Snowden Confirms NSA Worked with Israel on Stuxnet

This weekend, Der Spiegel released an interview with Edward Snowden that took place before he fled Hawaii for Hong Kong. 

Asked whether the NSA collaborates with Israel, Snowden said: “Yes, all the time. The NSA has a large section for that, called the FAD – Foreign Affairs Directorate.” When asked specifically about Stuxnet, Snowden confirmed: “The NSA and Israel wrote Stuxnet together.”

Stuxent was the computer worm created to attack Iran’s nuclear facility in Natanz, Iran. The US and Israel believed the facility was developing nuclear weapons while Iran claimed it was developing nuclear power stations. 

The worm was designed to make the centrifuges spin out of control and it succeeded in 2009.  Stuxnet was not intended to be released to the public at large but it infected millions of PCs around the world.   

Snowden also confirmed to Der Spiegel that the NSA was “in bed with the Germans, just like with most other Western states.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel was surprised by these allegations.