SitiWanMahani - Ketua-ketua perisik atas Amerika menghadapi Kongres pada hari Selasa atas tuduhan segar Amerika Syarikat telah mencuri dengar pemimpin Eropah dan rakyat. Ketua Keith Alexander, pengarah Agensi Keselamatan Negara, akan muncul sebelum risikan jawatankuasa Senat untuk menjelaskan mengapa ia tidak dimaklumkan.
Keterangannya akan meliputi program NSA dan perubahan yang berpotensi untuk Perisikan Asing Pengawasan Akta yang mengawal selia mencuri dengar elektronik.
Sasaran yang paling menonjol nampaknya telah menjadi Canselor Jerman Angela Merkel, yang telefon bimbit didakwa ditoreh oleh NSA. Pendedahan telah memaksa Barack Obama menjanjikan pembaharuan untuk memastikan NSA disimpan di bawah kawalan.
Dalam temu bual televisyen Amerika Syarikat Presiden Amerika Syarikat itu berkata: “mereka yang terlibat dalam pelbagai keseluruhan isu-isu dan kita memberikan mereka hala tuju dasar, tetapi kita telah melihat keupayaan mereka terus berkembang dan berkembang dan sebab itu saya memulakan kini kajian untuk memastikan apa yang mereka mampu lakukan tidak bermakna apa yang mereka perlu lakukan.”
Satu delegasi Parlimen Eropah juga di Washington untuk mencari jawapan kepada operasi pengumpulan maklumat yang mana satu MEP digambarkan sebagai “pecahan amanah”.
Buruh British MEP Claude Moraes berkata: “Amanah perlu dibina semula Kita perlu memahami mengapa jenis aktiviti pengawasan ini besar-besaran yang berlaku dan apa jenis amanah yang perlu dibina semula.”
US spy bosses face Congress amid spying rift with Europe . . .
America's top spy chiefs face Congress on Tuesday over fresh allegations the United States has been eavesdropping on European leaders and citizens. General Keith Alexander, the director of the National Security Agency, will appear before a Senate intelligence committee to explain why it was not informed.
His testimony will cover NSA programs and potential changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which regulates electronic eavesdropping.
The most prominent target appears to have been German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose mobile phone was allegedly tapped by the NSA.
The disclosures have forced Barack Obama to promise reforms to ensure the NSA is kept under control.
In a US television interview the US President said: "they're involved in a whole wide range of issues and we give them policy direction, but we've seen their capacity has continued to develop and expand and that's why I'm initiating now a review to make sure what they are able to do doesn't necessarily mean what they should be doing."
A European parliament delegation is also in Washington in search of answers to the intelligence gathering operation which one MEP described as a "breakdown in trust".
British Labour MEP Claude Moraes said: "Trust has to be rebuilt. We need to figure out why this kind of mass surveillance activity is happening and what kind of trust needs to be rebuilt."
