The NSA saga: Surprising turns and ominous allegations

[Commentary] Out of nowhere the Republican National Committee, meeting in Washington, passed by voice vote a resolution denouncing the National Security Agency surveillance as an “unconstitutional…intrusion on basic human rights that threatens the very foundation of democratic society.” The committee also recommended the creation of a special committee to “investigate, report and reveal to the public the extent of this domestic spying.” The RNC resolution demands action to “hold accountable the public officials who are found to be responsible for this unconstitutional surveillance.” RNC officials stated that the resolution was not a fluke but represented the consensus within the committee.

While there is an amusing side to the apparent disarray in the Republican response to the NSA revelations, US high tech companies were certainly not amused by the other occurrence: Edward Snowden’s direct that the US government not only spies for security and diplomatic purposes but also to further goals of industrial espionage -- including hacking into private networks of Siemens and other German multinationals. What is missing here is a direct connection between whatever alleged NSA economic espionage is gleaning and a feeding system to individual US companies -- which is what the US government believes is occurring routinely in China. But still Snowden’s claims have already had wide impact in Germany and Europe. They will only feed into costly (and futile) attempts by European and other countries to seal off their internet space and to exclude US companies that are deemed unfairly to be “in bed,” willingly or not, with pervasive US security operations.

[Claude Barfield is a resident scholar at AEI]