Secret documents reveal more than 1,000 targets of American and British surveillance in recent years, including the office of an Israeli prime minister, heads of international aid organizations, foreign energy companies and a European Union official involved in antitrust battles with American technology businesses.<\/p>\n
While the names of some political and diplomatic leaders have previously emerged as targets, the newly disclosed intelligence documents provide a much fuller portrait of the spies\u2019 sweeping interests in more than 60 countries.<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s Government Communications Headquarters, working closely with the National Security Agency, monitored the communications of senior European Union officials, foreign leaders including African heads of state and sometimes their family members, directors of United Nations and other relief programs, and officials overseeing oil and finance ministries, according to the documents. In addition to Israel, some targets involved close allies like France and Germany, where tensions have already erupted<\/a> over recent revelations about spying by the N.S.A.<\/p>\n Details of the surveillance are described in documents from the N.S.A. and Britain\u2019s eavesdropping agency, known as GCHQ, dating from 2008 to 2011. The target lists appear in a set of GCHQ reports that sometimes identify which agency requested the surveillance, but more often do not. The documents were leaked by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden and shared by The New York Times, The Guardian<\/a> and Der Spiegel<\/a>.<\/p>\n The reports are spare, technical bulletins produced as the spies, typically working out of British intelligence sites, systematically tapped one international communications link after another, focusing especially on satellite transmissions. The value of each link is gauged, in part, by the number of surveillance targets found to be using it for emails, text messages or phone calls. More than 1,000 targets, which also include people suspected of being terrorists or militants, are in the reports.<\/p>\n It is unclear what the eavesdroppers gleaned. The documents include a few fragmentary transcripts of conversations and messages, but otherwise contain only hints that further information was available elsewhere, possibly in a larger database.<\/p>\n Some condemned the surveillance on Friday as unjustified and improper. \u201cThis is not the type of behavior that we expect from strategic partners,\u201d Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen, a spokeswoman for the European Commission, said on the latest revelations of American and British spying in Europe.<\/p>\n Some of the surveillance relates to issues that are being scrutinized by President Obama and a panel he appointed in Washington that on Wednesday recommended tighter limits<\/a> on the N.S.A., particularly on spying of foreign leaders, especially allies.<\/p>\n The reports show that spies monitored the email traffic of several Israeli officials, including one target identified as \u201cIsraeli prime minister,\u201d followed by an email address. The prime minister at the time, in January 2009, was Ehud Olmert. The next month, spies intercepted the email traffic of the Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, according to another report. Two Israeli embassies also appear on the target lists.<\/p>\n Mr. Olmert said in a telephone interview on Friday that the email address was used for correspondence with his office, which he said staff members often handled. He added that it was unlikely that any secrets could have been compromised.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was an unimpressive target,\u201d Mr. Olmert said. He noted, for example, that his most sensitive discussions with President George W. Bush took place in person. \u201cI would be surprised if there was any attempt by American intelligence in Israel to listen to the prime minister\u2019s lines,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mr. Barak, who declined to comment, has said publicly that he used to take it for granted that he was under surveillance.<\/p>\n Despite the close ties between the United States and Israel, the record of mutual spying is long: Israeli spies, including Jonathan Jay Pollard, who was sentenced in 1987 to life in prison for passing intelligence information to Israel, have often operated in the United States, and the United States has often turned the abilities of the N.S.A. against Israel.<\/p>\n Mr. Olmert\u2019s office email was intercepted while he was dealing with fallout from Israel\u2019s military response<\/a> to rocket attacks from Gaza, but also at a particularly tense time in relations with the United States. The two countries were simultaneously at odds on Israeli preparations to attack Iran\u2019s nuclear program and cooperating on a wave of cyberattacks<\/a> on Iran\u2019s major nuclear enrichment facility.<\/p>\n A year before the interception of Mr. Olmert\u2019s office email, the documents listed another target, the Institute of Physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, an internationally recognized center for research in atomic and nuclear physics.<\/p>\n Also appearing on the surveillance lists is Joaqu\u00edn Almunia, vice president of the European Commission, which, among other powers, has oversight of antitrust issues in Europe. The commission has broad authority over local and foreign companies, and it has punished a number of American companies, including Microsoft and Intel, with heavy fines for hampering fair competition. The reports say that spies intercepted Mr. Almunia\u2019s communications in 2008 and 2009.<\/p>\n Mr. Almunia, a Spaniard, assumed direct authority over the commission\u2019s antitrust office in 2010. He has been involved in a three-year standoff with Google<\/a> over how the company runs its search engine. Competitors of the online giant had complained that it was prioritizing its own search results and using content like travel reviews and ratings from other websites without permission. While pushing for a settlement with Google, Mr. Almunia has warned that the company could face large fines if it does not cooperate.<\/p>\n The surveillance reports do not specify whether the interceptions of Mr. Almunia\u2019s communications were requested by the N.S.A. or British spies. Nor do the reports make clear whether he was a longstanding surveillance target or swept up as part of a fleeting operation. Contacted by The Times, Mr. Almunia said he was \u201cstrongly upset\u201d about the spying.<\/p>\n Ms. Hansen, the spokeswoman for the European Commission, said that it was already engaged in talks with the United States that were \u201cneeded to restore trust and confidence in the trans-Atlantic relationship.\u201d She added that \u201cthe commission will raise these new allegations with U.S. and U.K. authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement, the N.S.A. denied that it had ever carried out espionage to benefit American businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do not use our foreign intelligence capabilities to steal the trade secrets of foreign companies on behalf of \u2014 or give intelligence we collect to \u2014 U.S. companies to enhance their international competitiveness or increase their bottom line,\u201d said Vanee Vines, an N.S.A. spokeswoman.<\/p>\n But she added that some economic spying was justified by national security needs. \u201cThe intelligence community\u2019s efforts to understand economic systems and policies, and monitor anomalous economic activities, are critical to providing policy makers with the information they need to make informed decisions that are in the best interest of our national security,\u201d Ms. Vines said.<\/p>\n Spies have a freer hand with economic targets in Britain, where the law permits intelligence gathering in the service of the \u201ceconomic well-being\u201d of the country. A GCHQ spokesman said that its policy was not to comment on intelligence matters, but that the agency \u201ctakes its obligations under the law very seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n At the request of GCHQ, The Times agreed to withhold some details from the documents because of security concerns.<\/p>\n The surveillance reports show American and British spies\u2019 deep appetite for information. The French companies Total, the oil and gas giant, and Thales, an electronics, logistics and transportation outfit, appear as targets, as do a French ambassador, an \u201cEstonian Skype security team\u201d and the German Embassy in Rwanda.<\/p>\n Germany is especially sensitive about American spying since reports emerged that the agency listened to Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s cellphone calls<\/a>. Negotiations for a proposed agreement between Germany and the United States on spying rules have recently stalled for several reasons, including the United States\u2019 guarantee only that it would never spy on the chancellor \u2014 a promise it has refused to extend to other German officials.<\/p>\n