Sushma conveys India's anguish over NSA snooping

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday conveyed to US Secretary of State John Kerry the ‘anguish’ of people of India over media reports on authorisation of his country’s National Security Agency (NSA) to spy on the Bharatiya Janata Party.

“I raised this issue with Secretary Kerry. I told him that when this news appeared in newspapers, people of India were agitated and expressed their anguish. I told him that I want to make him aware of that anguish,” Swaraj said, addressing a joint news conference with Kerry after they co-chaired the fifth annual strategic dialogue between the two nations.

Kerry said that the US fully respected and understood “the feelings expressed” by Sushma. He also stressed on intelligence sharing and counterterrorism cooperation between India and US. The Washington Post earlier this month revealed that a US court had in 2010 given the NSA the go ahead after the top spy agency of America had sought permission to carry out surveillance on the BJP.

The documents the former NSA contractor Snowden provided to Washington Post listed 193 foreign governments as well as foreign factions and other entities that were part of a 2010 certification approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

The BJP-led NDA government strongly reacted to the revelation and top diplomats posted in the US Embassy in New Delhi were summoned to the MEA, where senior officials conveyed strong displeasure of India.  India sought an explanation from the US on the Washington Post report and demanded an assurance that such authorisation would not be acted upon by American government entities, as far as citizens, entities and the Indian government were concerned.

“I even told him (Kerry) that both countries consider each other as friendly nations and it will not be acceptable to us from any angle if one friendly country spies on another... This is unacceptable to us,” said Sushma.