US bugged embassies of EU and European allies

Latest revelations from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden suggests US bugged EU embassy in Washington DC

The latest releases of the Prism leaks indicate that the US government operated a large-scale bugging operation against the embassies and trade missions on US soil of some 38 different countries, as well as the European Union (EU) offices in both New York and Washington DC.

The bugging and eavesdropping programme encompassed the full range of spying methods: bugs in physical equipment at the offices, cable taps, and the collection of confidential transmissions using communications-collecting antennae.

In addition the EU, embassies bugged included countries across the Middle East, as well as the embassies of France, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, and Turkey. The list in the document, which dates back to September 2010, does not mention the UK or Germany.

The revelations are the latest leaks to come from US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The aim of the EU-focused bugging and eavesdropping was to gain inside information about policy disagreements, especially on global issues. It was achieved via a bug "implanted on the Cryptofax at the EU embassy" in Washington DC. The Cryptofax is a device used to send and received encrypted documents between embassies and their capitals.

The bugging of the EU offices in the US have lasted at least six years.

However, the US embassy eavesdropping operations also extended outside the US to, according to German news magazine Der Spiegel, the EU's Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, Belgium, a venue for summits and ministerial meetings close to NATO headquarters.

The news brought a predictably outraged response from US allies across Europe, with the German Federal Prosecutor's office suggesting that it was preparing to bring charges against the UK and US over the spying allegations.