France spies on the US just as the US spies on France, claimed the former head of France’s counter-espionage and counter-terrorism agency, commenting on reports that the US National Security Agency (NSA) recorded millions of French telephone calls, reports FRANCE 24.
Bernard Squarcini, head of the Direction Centrale du Renseignement Intérieur (DCRI) intelligence service until last year, told French daily Le Figaro he was “astonished” when Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said he was "deeply shocked" by the claims.
“I am amazed by such disconcerting naiveté,” he said in the interview. “You’d almost think our politicians don’t bother to read the reports they get from the intelligence services.”
On Monday, French daily Le Monde published a story based on leaks from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, alleging that the NSA had recorded 70 million phone calls in France in a 30-day period from December 10 to January 8 this year.
The following day French President Franços Hollande called his US counterpart Barack Obama to express "deep disapproval of these practices, which are unacceptable between friends and allies because they infringe on the privacy of French citizens".
But for Squarcini, who was questioned in 2011 over surveillance of journalists investigating alleged illegal campaign funding for former president Nicolas Sarkozy, spying on allies is all in a day’s work.
“The French intelligence services know full well that all countries, whether or not they are allies in the fight against terrorism, spy on each other all the time,” he said.
“The Americans spy on French commercial and industrial interests, and we do the same to them because it’s in the national interest to protect our companies.”
“There was nothing of any real surprise in this report,” he added. “No one is fooled.”
On Wednesday, it was German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s turn to put in a call to the White House following reports that the US had snooped on her personal mobile phone.
Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.