A Brazilian television show, "Fantastico," reports that documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden show that the United States has been spying on major multi-national companies including Brazilian oil producer Petrobras, according to the Washington Post.
Since Snowden first leaked the existence of the NSA's extensive surveillance program the Obama administration has said that the program only exists to try to gain information that would help in the prevention of terrorist attacks.
Slides used in a May 2012 NSA presentation aimed at teaching new agents how to break into private computer networks in order to spy were shown on "Fantastico." The documents show that in addition to the Brazilian oil company agents also broke in to the networks of Google, France's foreign ministry and the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, according to Reuters.
The U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper issued a statement explaining that the newly revealed program is used to disrupt terrorist financing, according to Reuters.
"What we do not do is use our foreign intelligence capabilities to steal the trade secrets of foreign companies on behalf of - or give intelligence we collect to - U.S. companies to enhance their international competitiveness or increase their bottom line," Clapper said.
Last week "Fantastico" used information given to them by Glenn Greenwald, the Brazil based writer for the Guardian who was working with Snowden, to show that the NSA has been spying on the communications of Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, according to the Washington Post.
Rouseff spoke with President Obama at last week's G20 Summit about the report and found the answers given to her by the American president to be unsatisfactory. President Obama is expected to give further explanation by Wednesday, according to the Washington Post.
"The revelations suggest that the U.S. went way too far, beyond any reasonable justification of containing security threats," Michael Shifter, president of the think tank Inter-American Dialogue, told the Washington Post. "Such an overreach is disrespectful and has touched a real nerve Brazil, a country that prizes its sovereignty and is understandably sensitive about such abuses."
