White House Authorized NSA Spying on OSCE, Says Report

White House Authorized NSA Spying on OSCE, Says Report

By Presidential order, the U.S. National Security Agency has been spying on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), according to a story in Thursday's edition of the Austrian newspaper Die Presse, which in turn cites a journalist with the German weekly Der Spiegel, who is acquainted with documents released by Edward Snowden. This occurs at a time when the OSCE is playing a central role in de-escalating the situation in Ukraine.

Senior Der Spiegel correspondent Holger Stark reportedly obtained access to classified NSA data which revealed that the OSCE was among the NSA's targets. The NSA was seeking information related to OSCE foreign policy, and information related to arms and trade control issues. Reports concerning weaponry were rated as a third-level priority, meaning they were later handed over to the U.S. Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State.

Stark also stressed that Austria's capital, Vienna, is a key target for NSA, where it hosts not only the OSCE, but also quite a lot of international organizations, including UN agencies. "There is ample evidence that NSA's priority targets along with international organizations are Russia's, China's and Iran's embassies," the journalist said.

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