Press TV – November 12, 2013
The list of US spying targets now includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, a new report reveals.
The US National Security Agency and the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters infiltrated OPEC’s computer systems to access an internal study in the organization’s research division, the German newspaper Der Spiegel reported, citing documents provided by American whistleblower Edward J. Snowden.
A list of individuals targeted for surveillance included “Saudi Arabia’s OPEC governor”.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approved the targeting.
Der Spiegel said the information on OPEC had been available to the NSA for years, but in 2008 the agency infiltrated the organization, and has since been able to access Relevant Products/Services information specifically regarding oil exporting countries and the price of oil.
The infiltration however, was not easy for the NSA. A document from GCHQ, released in 2010, announced that after a long period of meticulous work, the two spying agencies had finally infiltrated the systems.
There is no national security justification for the spying effort. But the US needs the information to maintain its economic dominance in the world, some experts say.
OPEC has twelve members and is dedicated to coordinating the policies of the oil-exporting countries.
The American public, some IT corporations, and foreign leaders are all targets of the US super spying agency over the past years, according to documents released by Snowden, who is now in Russia where he was granted temporary asylum. Snowden is wanted in America for espionage charges.
Related article
- Oil Espionage: How the NSA and GCHQ Spied on OPEC (spiegel.de)