Stiff Upper Lip This, Pal!
Posted by James R. Rummel on February 17th, 2008 (All posts by James R. Rummel)
This news item says that France might very well have bugged the UK Defence Minister’s office.
Unfortunately, I am having trouble confirming it. Most of the stuff I’m finding online just refers back to that single article.
Did France bug the office of a major UK minister? I would if I were them!
(Hat tip to The Last of the Few.)
February 18th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Well, let us hope we return the compliment. However, I should be a little wary of Patrick Mercer and his “security” sources.
February 18th, 2008 at 11:50 am
There’s an old saying that intelligence agencies have no allies. Its the agencies job to create the most accurate picture of events as possible and doing so requires knowing the secret deliberations of allies as well as enemies.
France specifically has a long history of very “realistic” intelligence actions.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:45 am
I would expect our (American) intel to be fully aware of what our allies and our enemies are up to…we bug and we get bugged.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
I don’t mind the French bugging us – they can keep a secret. But if the Yanks do it, China and Israel know the next day. N’est-ce pas?
February 19th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
How’s so, DM? Thru omnipresent Israeli Lobby, no doubt. And then who knows what those scary Israelis are going to do with the info…invade UK, probably.
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:12 am
I don’t mind the French bugging us – they can keep a secret.
That’s funny. I remember getting a security brief at my last duty station where the counterintel folks said that the Brits and Canadians could be trusted with almost anything other than NOFORN stuff, but that anything we told French officers would show up in everyone’s inbox. A friend who was in the military in the early ’60s said that things haven’t changed since then.