WASHINGTON — US officials have begun warning foreign allies that NSA leaker Edward Snowden might have released documents revealing the intelligence operations of their countries and their level of cooperation with the United States.
Word of the briefings by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence comes as allegations of overseas surveillance by the National Security Agency have angered allies on two continents.
Two Western diplomats said ODNI officials have been briefing them regularly on documents they believe Snowden has.
The Washington Post, which broke the story, said some of the documents contain sensitive material about intelligence-collection programs against adversaries such as Iran, Russia and China. Some refer to operations involving countries not publicly allied with the United States.
The newspaper said the process of alerting the officials is delicate because, in some cases, one part of their government may know about the collaboration while others may not.
Meanwhile, Germany said it would soon send its intelligence chiefs to speak with the White House and NSA about spying — including allegations that the NSA monitored Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone.
A German government spokesman did not specify a date for the talks.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said that US allies’ grousing about snooping was intended to appease their home countries.
“These leaders are responding to domestic pressures in their own country,” said Rubio, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“Everyone spies on everybody. That’s just a fact. Whether they want to acknowledge that publicly or not, every country has different capabilities, but at the end of the day, if you are a US government official traveling abroad, you are aware anything you have on your cellphone, iPad could be monitored by foreign intelligence agencies, including that of your own allies.”
“Everyone knew there was gambling going on in Casablanca.”