Gentlemen Don't Read Each Other's Mail

There is quite a furor in the news about the efforts of NSA – The National Security Agency – to listen in on the phone calls of various world leaders. Unfortunately, no one seems to be in the process of either explaining or defending what NSA is doing.  Part of this is simple: virtually all of what NSA does in classified, and any attempt to explain is felt to be inappropriate.  Many at NSA probably wish, at this time, to fade back into the woodwork where they existed for several decades, where, among those who knew, NSA was jokingly said to mean ‘No Such Agency.’  The joke was even more delicious because those who really did know what they were doing could only share it among themselves – it was a real insider’s joke.

That period is long gone.  There have not only been a wide range of unofficial revelations (many of them inaccurate), there have also been enough statements made by those who do know – to include several directors who made comments while they were heading the agency – that it is now fairly clear precisely what is the mission of NSA.

Now, with the revelations provided by the traitor Snowden, there are a whole host of folks who are up in arms.  Conceptually, they fall into two distinct camps: American citizens, and everyone else.

For the American citizens, there is a totally legitimate discussion that needs to take place as to the limits of government security efforts.  NSA, and its leadership, and those above NSA (to include the Director of National Intelligence, the Commander of Strategic Command, the Secretary of Defense, and ultimately the President), need to constantly remember that they are the servants of the people.  They are not princes, they have no rights to their positions, they have no powers beyond those granted them under the Constitution.  They are servants of the people, no more.  The people have the right to insist on observance of the Constitution and for your removal if you fail to do so.

The citizenry of the US also have the right to insist, demand is perhaps a better word, that the operations and efforts of NSA be both the most effective and efficient on the one hand – in keeping with US national security concerns – and Constitutional on the other.  All well and good.

But what about everyone else?  What can the people of Germany, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Guatemala, or the Galapagos Islands (part of Ecuador) expect from NSA?  The answer is simple: Nothing.

Angela Merkel – Chancellor of Germany – is apparently in a huff over the report that NSA was copying her cell phone.   The point is that NSA initially defended its ‘we listen to everything’ approach on the grounds that it was going after terrorists.  Chancellor Merkel is obviously not a terrorist.  So, why oh why is NSA listening in?

REALLY????  Is that a serious question?  Does anyone other than Miss Manners think that we shouldn’t eavesdrop?  Does anyone think that, if given half a chance, every other country – and every company – on the planet wouldn’t pay good money to know what the President of the US, the Speaker of the House, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs – and the secretary of every department is saying every single day?  Here’s a hint: the answer to the question is: they do pay good money.  Perhaps the Vatican doesn’t pay for that intelligence.  If so, they are probably the only ones. 

A couple of things are going on here: first, everyone is jealous of the capabilities of NSA.  Every country out there wishes they had this capability.  Two, it’s always irritating when you find out that someone else heard you say something you wish you hadn’t said.  Three, when you are caught saying something stupid, the necessary response in politics is to issue counter-accusations.

But, more importantly is this: every nation collects intelligence.  And they always have.  On their friends as well as their enemies.  And in particular on the leadership.  In several museums in – gee, Germany – there are thousands of clay tablets, covered in writings.  They date from the 12^th century BC.  They are the notes from the various official representatives from the Hittite courts to the courts of various kingdoms – Egypt, Babylon, and others; in short, they are the reports from the Hittite ambassadors to their king.  (These include the negotiations and eventual agreement between Hattushilish III and Ramses II.)  The point is that for at least the last 3300 years ambassadors have been collecting intelligence on the leaders of other countries – that’s what they do.  We may talk of intelligence agencies collecting information on terrorists.  But much more important than that is information on leaders – current, former, and emerging.  Is it important to the US leadership that they know what Chancellor Merkel is thinking?  Or perhaps the US government shouldn’t be paying attention to the Chancellor?  Should the US be building files on the ‘rising stars’ of German politics?  Or should we ignore such information and wait to be surprised?

One thing is certain: the Germans (and the Guatemalans, and everyone else) are collecting on US politicians; not simply the President, but every major figure they bump into.  After all those dinner parties in Washington DC – all those people – all the foreigners at least - go home and they keep working, writing down what they heard, who said what, their impressions of various figures, who might be susceptible to being a ‘special friend,’ etc.  And that is everyone; the Ambassador from country ‘X’ and his charming and clever wife – they will go home and compare notes, then write them down and send them home – so that folks like Chancellor Merkel can read them. 

The Army attaché from Italy and his beautiful girl-friend from the ‘Economics’ office – they aren’t just there for the drinks and hors d’oeurvres.  If they are good – and the rule is that virtually every country sends their very best to Washington – they have collected everything they can on everyone they met: the under-Secretary of Commerce and his wife: get their names, their address, the names and ages of the kids and what sports they play, schools they went to, the wife’s law firm, what cases has she handled, who she date dated in college, his hat size and bowling score – it’s all going to be collected and put in a file.  All that and as detailed a physical description as they can remember – what they were wearing, how they wore it, how they parted their hair, birthmarks and everything, even the mole on the side of his nose.

In 1929 Henry Stimson, the Secretary of State for President Hoover, closed the State Department’s cryptanalyst office, and uttered the now famous remark that ‘Gentlemen don’t read each other’s mail.’ 12 years later Stimson, by then the Secretary of War for President Franklin Roosevelt, was reading Japanese ‘mail’ every day.  The times didn’t change – every nation has attempted to read each other’s mail for millennia – Stimson did.  Chancellor Merkel may be upset, but her pique is not representative of wise policy.

There is an old saw, often attributed to the French, but in fact as old as civilization itself, which goes that “Countries don’t have friends, they have interests.”  The US, and this President in particular, may take great notice of its many allies.  But, before any of its allies, the US must address its own interests.  And it is always in our interests to know as much as we can about the leadership of the countries with whom we are dealing.  They are doing the same to the US.  I repeat: they are doing the same to the US.  They are watching every move of not only the President, but of every senior official.  If they have a chance to eavesdrop, they will.  If they can listen in on a conversation, they will.  If Merkel is genuinely upset and thinks this kind of thing shouldn’t be taking place, she is naïve and immature.  If President Obama didn’t understand that US intelligence agencies were, and always have been, interested in the activities, and conversations, of foreign leadership, then he is idiot.

Frankly, I don’t think President Obama is an idiot, nor do I think Chancellor Merkel is naïve or immature.  So, this is ‘theater.’  So, say your lines, get off the stage, and lets get on to something more important.  Just remember this: whatever you do, don’t do something now that will hurt our intelligence capabilities in the future.