Hillary Clinton Ordered Diplomats to Spy on UN: WikiLeaks Docs

[Hissyspit]

Source: Raw Story

Hillary Clinton ordered diplomats to spy on UN: WikiLeaks docs

By Daniel Tencer
Sunday, November 28th, 2010 -- 2:08 pm

A classified directive signed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered US diplomats to spy on the highest-ranking officials in the United Nations, according to documents obtained from the latest WikiLeaks document dump.

The targets of the spying reportedly included UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, as well as the ambassadors of the permanent members of the UN Security Council -- China, Russia, France and the UK.

Even as its servers were under a denial-of-service attack Sunday, making it virtually impossible to reach its Web site, the whistleblower group WikiLeaks began releasing the first batch of US government documents -- many of them State Department cables -- expected to cause embarrassment or even a straining of relations among the US's diplomatic partners.

The Guardian, which along with the New York Times, Germany's Der Spiegel, France's Le Monde and Spain's El Pais received the WikiLeaks materials in advance, dug up a cable signed by Clinton in June of 2009, "demanding forensic technical details about the communications systems used by top UN officials, including passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and commercial networks for official communications."

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/clinton-ordered-diplomats-spy-un

[pleah]

1. K&R Very interesting.

[bluestateguy]

2. Well duh

Why do you think the UN is in New York.

Makes spying much easier.

[xultar]

3. I know right?

[jberryhill]

5. Yeah, well "spy" is so much more catchy than "figure out WTF is going on"

Like the hundreds of CIA employees whose job is to sit around and read newspapers. The horror!

[Freetradesucks]

18. Why do I think the UN is in New York?

That's an easy one. Because we are the only one's who will pay for it.

[No Elephants]

4. LOL. I wonder how many replies this thread will get.

[Posteritatis]

6. Definitely not cool, but anyone surprised by this is impressively naive. (nt)

[Skidmore]

10. K&R....modern day sensibilities would not have survived

the court of the Sun King.

[ProSense]

7. This is likely the most embarrassing of the revelations

if not the most dangerous. What happens next at the UN?

[razorman]

8. I agree. This has the potential to be one of the most momentous leaks in this situation.

Diplomats are not supposed to be spies. That's what the CIA, NSA, etc. are for. For a U.S. Secretary of State to order our diplomats to spy on allies is very serious. To put the order in writing was simply stupid. I think that there will definitely be repercussions from this. Of course, this has always been going on, but now that it is out in the open, look for faux outrage from other countries. Nothing out State Department says will be trusted now, if it ever was.

[blm]

13. A committed neocon war hawk should NEVER have been put in charge of State Dept.

They will FIND ways to have the wars they and the PTB want.

One of Obama's first MAJOR missteps as pres-elect....probably because he bought into the 'meme' that Clintons are so invaluable on policy.

[Pathwalker]

15. Diplomats have been spies forever. How can people not know that?

ALWAYS! You're surprised by this? :wow:

[razorman]

17. Of course they have always spied. But not officially. Now it is out in the open.

[progressoid]

9. Well, that'll make her next trip abroad more exciting.

[Catherina]

11. Setting up the UN Security Council for blackmail. Into what? War with Iran?

Why else would you ask your minions to steal fingerprints, DNA, iris scans, passwords, encryption keys, e-mail accounts, telephone accounts, frequent flyer customer numbers, and credit card numbers?

The directive specified not just Ban, but his top advisers, the heads of all UN agencies, commanders of UN military missions and specifically representatives of all the permanent members of the UN Security Council. Heads of peace operations and Dr Margaret Chan, the director general of WHO, were targetted too.

Is this how we planned to get UN approval for war against Iran?

[The Doctor.]

12. I imagine it was more an 'insurance' policy than a means to a specific end.

Knowing the movements and personal details of potential allies/adversaries has always been part of diplomacy. You want to know where someone stands and have leverage at your disposal.

[AndrewP]

14. Pretty much. I'm not surprised by the revelation

But I'm sure it'll be dynamite in the press, as it is a spectacular headline to say the least.

[Scurrilous]

16. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Dreamer Tatum]

19. After almost 10 years of reading DU, I was sure people were not this naive.

Boy, was I wrong.

Espionage has been going on FOREVER. Between every country and every other country ON EARTH.

Know who probably does the most spying on the US? England. Know who we probably spy on the most? Canada and Mexico.

Know what other countries do, whether we do it or not? Yup: SPY ON US.

Was that not clear?