In the wake of Edward Snowden's mass spying revelations, many of which claimed the National Security Agency was spying on foreign governments and leaders, the CIA has now reportedly been ordered to stop spying on friendly foreign governments in Western Europe, said the Associated Press.
According to current and former U.S. officials, the CIA is now examining whether it is being careful enough and whether spying on allies is worth the risk of discovery and ultimately jeopardizing relationships.
"Under the stand-down order, case officers in Europe largely have been forbidden from undertaking 'unilateral operations' such as meeting with sources they have recruited within allied governments," the AP reported, adding that "such clandestine meetings are the bedrock of spying."
The orders came two months ago from senior CIA officials through secret cables, anonymous CIA sources told the Associated Press, and are "part of the fallout from the July 2 arrest of a 31-year-old employee of the German intelligence service who passed 218 German intelligence documents to the CIA and is suspected to have been spying for Russia."
It also comes after German authorities recently searched the home and office of a German defense official suspected of spying for the U.S.
As a result of these two incidents and the Snowden leaks revealing that the NSA had tapped German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cell phone, Germany asked the CIA Berlin station chief to leave the country.
The director of national intelligence, James Clapper, said during a public speech Thursday that the U.S. "is assuming more risk because it has stopped spying on 'specific targets,'" reported the AP.
Clapper was accused of lying under oath last year when leaked Snowden documents contradicted the testimony he gave before the Senate in which he claimed that the NSA was not collecting data on American citizens.
While the CIA is said to be halting its spying on allies, the NSA's position is unknown. What has yet to be determined is which countries the CIA considers allies, or whether this moratorium is little more than a public relations move to appease foreign leaders upset at U.S. spy practices.
