Ever since Edward Snowden became a household name this past summer, the new status quo is to hate the NSA. The programs revealed by Snowden’s leaks have garnered near-universal criticism, from the ACLU to France to China—seemingly everyone except for David Cameron and Peter King.
Americans are having, and will continue to have, a conversation about what is proper and what is necessary in terms of communications surveillance. The rest of the Western world will continue to express disbelief at being spied on by Washington while Michigan Representative Mike Rogers suggests that the French sip a glass of Dom to celebrate 70 million of the nation’s calls tracked in one month. Wherever the conversation will lead, a couple of things are clear: there is absolutely no excuse for tapping Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel’s phone, and the NSA’s programs have almost certainly done some good.
Many officials maintain that Snowden’s leaks have done damage to American national security, and have created some serious questions at home and abroad about the propriety of the surveillance and the intentions of the NSA and the federal government.
But the most immediate and visible (read: non-classified) damage is only tangentially related to the NSA’s actual programs. The United States has lost any semblance of the moral high ground when it comes to surveillance, and can no longer credibly deny its worldwide programs.
President Obama and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper can talk about the necessity of the programs as much as they want, but it will not be enough to silence domestic critics—much less the Chinese government—for whom the leaks detailing NSA hacking efforts against it were like, as one observer put it, “Christmas in July.”
The U.S. has long criticized the Chinese government for hacking foreign—notably American—computers to steal military and commercial intelligence. In June, however, China gained the ability to play the “hypocrite” card when the U.S. criticized its foreign intelligence gathering practices. While the U.S. has known about Chinese hacking for years, it has never received anything quite as juicy as Snowden’s leaked files. China can (and does) deny the existence of its programs, but the United States can no longer do the same with any shred of credibility.
Like it or not, this changes the power balance in the world. Rule No. 1 of running programs such as the ones the NSA “allegedly” (okay, certainly) runs (or ran) in Europe or Asia is: “don’t get caught.” It’s generally accepted that all countries spy on one another, but it puts the perpetrators in a weak rhetorical position when proof exists.
There’s no way to avoid outrage when one finds out that one is being spied on, especially by a trusted friend. The United States has quite a bit of wiggle room thanks to its position in the world, and it is not about to lose that position in the world. As the German defense minister said, the U.S. is Germany’s best friend and will continue to be, despite any surveillance improprieties. But these recent revelations do weaken America’s ability to criticize the programs of other countries in a time when countries such as the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are competing to have greater influence in their respective regions.
While America is busy putting out political fires worldwide, the Chinese government is allowed to continue its spying programs without a public check from the rest of the world. Given the latest round of publications, showing extensive spying in France and Germany, including on top officials—Merkel stated as the story broke that she assumed her phone was being monitored, but not by America—other countries are not likely to rush to the defense of the NSA programs anytime soon. One exception is the U.K., which has shown serious animosity towards Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who broke the story of Snowden’s leaks in the Guardian.
America’s ability to take a moral high ground in any surveillance or hacking issue will be seriously hindered for the foreseeable future, and it will have to work to regain the trust of some of its closest allies that, despite its special position, it cannot survive without.