The CIA announced this week that it will stop most of its spying on nations in Western Europe that have good relations with the U.S.
The United States CIA has spied on European nations for decades. However, in light of a recent PR disaster where a German was caught selling classified information to the U.S., and the Edward Snowden scandal, the CIA is planning to cut back on spying in parts of Western Europe that are friendly to the U.S. government.
James Clapper, the head of the CIA, announced to the public on Thursday, September 18 that the CIA is no longer spying on "specific targets." Clapper did not specifically name the targets, but because of the context of recent events in Germany, it is assumed that he was talking about governments in Western Europe.
The CIA declined to comment to the AP about this story. An anonymous U.S. official said that the CIA was ordered to step down its espionage temporarily to determine whether the benefit of spying outweighed the risk of being caught, and whether CIA employees should be more careful. Officers of the CIA are still able to meet other intelligence officers in these countries, but they are not making new contacts, or meeting secretly with officials from the governments of other countries.
A former CIA agent, speaking anonymously, said that it was normal for the CIA to scale back operations after a breach of spying like the one in Germany, but it was "never this long or this deep."
The CIA faced a lot of scrutiny over the past few years since Edward Snowden, a former CIA agent, released many classified CIA documents. The CIA seems to be reevaluating some of their security measures.
The scandal in Germany was uncovered this past July. A CIA spy working in Germany was exposed. The German government ordered the American spy to leave the country.
Interior Minister of Germany, Thomas de Maizière, chastised the US for harming diplomatic relations by spying on the country. "Based on what we know now, the information gained through this alleged espionage is ridiculous," Maizière said. "At some point there needs to be good times [in the US-German relationship]."
The German government employee was arrested in July. He was thought to be spying for Russia, but the man told officials that he was spying for the CIA. He admitted to passing 218 German intelligence documents to the U.S.
