US intelligence fiasco a wake-up call for all
- Hypocrisy of outrage over China’s alleged spy balloon exposed by leaks that show Washington has been snooping on friends
On the seismic scale of intelligence leaks, the latest from the Pentagon appears to be much less significant and damaging than those released by Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks in the past decade. It is still extremely embarrassing for Washington.
A 21-year-old Air National Guardsman has been arrested. He was involved in a social media platform used by only dozens of people, where the documents first surfaced.
Despite the arrest, it’s still unclear whether the leak was a hack or a disinformation campaign.
At the very least, the intelligence documents, some marked “top secret”, show the US has been spying on the government of South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol, one of Washington’s staunchest supporters in the Asia-Pacific. That rather exposes the hypocrisy of Washington’s outrage over China’s alleged spy balloon, shot down with much fanfare in February.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken even postponed a visit to China over that.
If Washington can spy on a close ally, we can only guess what US intelligence agencies are doing with countries considered hostile. The documents also include military estimates that show the war in Ukraine has been going in a much less favourable direction than is often claimed by Kyiv and its Western supporters.
The latest fiasco is a reminder of the lengths to which the United States will go in the name of national security. It’s small consolation for Washington that it doesn’t compare with the Snowden expose, which showed the US illegally spying on its own citizens, with the full cooperation of practically all the biggest telecoms and internet service giants; nor with the WikiLeaks expose of alleged war crimes covered up by Washington that were committed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Man suspected of leaking secret US documents appears in court
That was followed by revelations in 2015 that the National Security Agency had been tapping top German officials for decades, including former chancellor Angela Merkel.
The US sees itself as the beacon of democracy and leader of the free world. This requires constant vigilance and intelligence gathering.
Maybe its most loyal allies will accept the argument. The rest of the world may be forgiven for being sceptical or even cynical about it.
