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NSA expands spying cooperation with Saudi Arabia: Leaked memo

Iran Press TV

Sat Jul 26, 2014 1:34PM GMT

The US National Security Agency (NSA) last year significantly expanded its intelligence cooperation with Saudi Arabia, one of the world's most repressive and abusive regimes, a newly leaked document shows.

An April 2013 top secret memo provided to The Intercept by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, details the NSA's plans "to provide direct analytic and technical support" on "Internal security" matters for the Saudi Ministry of Interior (MOI) and Saudi Ministry of Defense (MOD).

The memo describes "a period of rejuvenation" for the NSA's relationship with the Saudis, as part of the Obama administration's effort to enhance relations with the Saudi regime, The Intercept reports.

One secret 2007 NSA memo lists Saudi Arabia as one of four countries where the US "has [an] interest in regime continuity," indicating that US support for Riyadh has existed for years.

However, the leaked memo shows that in December 2012, James Clapper, the US Director of National Intelligence, authorized the NSA to expand its "third party" relationship with Saudi Arabia to include the sharing of signals intelligence, or "SIGINT," capability with the MOD's Technical Affairs Directorate (TAD).

"With the approval of the Third Party SIGINT relationship," the memo reports, the NSA "intends to provide direct analytic and technical support to TAD." The goal is "to facilitate the Saudi government's ability to utilize SIGINT to locate and track individuals of mutual interest within Saudi Arabia."

Even before this new initiative in 2012, the NSA and CIA had been working with the Saudi regime to bolster "Internal security" and track alleged terrorists, the memo shows.

The NSA's formal "Third Party" relationship with the Saudis involves arming the Saudi Ministry of Defense with highly advanced surveillance technology. The NSA "provides technical advice on SIGINT topics such as data exploitation and target development to TAD," the memo says, "as well as a sensitive source collection capability."

According to the document, the intelligence collaboration between Washington and Riyadh has been like a two-way street, with both countries sharing information they secretly collect.

The United Nations and Human Rights Watch have recently condemned the kingdom's escalating crackdown on political activists, dissidents and critics of the government in recent years. In 2013, the US State Department reported that MOI subjected prisoners and opposition detainees to torture.

The embarrassing scandal around NSA spying activities started in June 2013 when Snowden leaked thousands of classified NSA documents to the media, detailing the surveillance programs used by US intelligence agencies.

AHT/HRJ