REYKJAVIK, Iceland, June 23 (UPI) — WikiLeaks released National Security Administration documents from the surveillance of the three most recent French presidents on Tuesday.
The documents come from the communications of French Presidents Francois Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac, along with a number of high-level officials, including the French cabinet and the French ambassador to the United States.
“The French people have a right to know that their elected government is subject to hostile surveillance from a supposed ally,” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said of the released documents. “We are proud of our work with leading French publishers Liberation and Mediapart to bring this story to light. French readers can expect more timely and important revelations in the near future.”
The cell phone conversations of the three presidents and other top officials were spied upon, as well as correspondence regarding the global financial crisis, the Greek debt crisis, the future of the European Union, the relationship between Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the French involvement in the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.
In response to the revelation, Hollande called an emergency meeting of the French defense council scheduled for Wednesday, The Guardian reported.
Ned Price, spokesperson for the NSA, declined to comment “on specific intelligence allegations.
“As a general matter, we do not conduct any foreign intelligence surveillance activities unless there is a specific and national security purpose. This applies to ordinary citizens and world leaders alike,” he said.
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