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Massive leaks on US spying: We like to whine when others do it, and in reality it is a routine matter. But seeing it in black and white is an eyeopener. Below is an example of the US instructing its embassy in Tel Aviv to spy on Israel to obtain the following information:
G. Information Infrastructure and Telecommunications Systems (INFR-3). --Current specifications, vulnerabilities, capabilities, and planned upgrades to national telecommunications infrastructure, networks, and technologies used by government and military authorities, intelligence and security services, and the public sector. --Details about command, control, and communications systems and facilities. --National leadership use of and dependencies on a dedicated telecommunications infrastructure. --Details about national and regional telecommunications policies, programs, regulations, and training. --Information about current and planned upgrades to public sector communications systems and technologies used by government, military personnel, and the civil sector, including cellular phone networks, mobile satellite phones, very small aperture terminals (VSAT), trunked and mobile radios, pagers, prepaid calling cards, firewalls, encryption, international connectivity, use of electronic data interchange, and cable and fiber networks. --Information about wireless infrastructure, cellular communications capabilities and makes and models of cellular phones and their operating systems, to include second generation and third generation systems. --Details about the use of satellites for telecommunication purposes, including planned system upgrades. --Details about Internet and intranet use and infrastructure, including government oversight. --Details about foreign and domestic telecommunications service providers and vendors. --Plans and efforts to acquire US export-controlled telecommunications equipment and technology. --Plans and efforts to export or transfer state-of-the art telecommunications equipment and technology. --Details about information repositories associated with radio frequency identification (RFID)-enabled systems used for passports, government badges, and transportation systems.In fairness, Israel has engaged in intelligence collection in the United States, the most famous and egregious case being the Pollard case. But even the Pollard case was about Israel gathering intelligence on other countries and organizations, not about gathering intelligence on the United States itself. In contrast, this is smoking-gun evidence of the US ordering intelligence gathering on an ally. It's not surprising, but the hypocrisy is thick and glaring.
--Official and personal phone numbers, fax numbers, and e-mail addresses of principal civilian and military leaders.
RICE
Israellycool has a great roundup of the Wikileaks Israel-related issues. While, Mere Rhetoric explains how Wikileak memos prove that Anti-Israel Foreign Policy Experts Got Saudi Arabia, Other Arab Countries 100% Backward On Iran Attack. Great material.
