美國稱難與德國達成互不監視協議
The United States is working to improve intelligence cooperation with Germany but a sweeping "no-spy" agreement between the two countries is unlikely, a senior Obama administration official said on Tuesday.
"We are not currently talking about an across-the-board 'no spy' agreement, but we do agree we need to work towards updated understandings between our two countries, and if we do that properly it can strengthen our relationship," said a senior U.S. administration official.
After revelations from former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden about alleged eavesdropping on Merkel, German media speculated that the German government might seek to join an espionage alliance known as the "Five Eyes," in which the United States and a group of English-speaking allies divide the world into eavesdropping target sectors and share the results.
The "Five Eyes" partners are the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
However, a former U.S. intelligence official said that for Germany to be invited to join the group, all five of the allies would have to agree and such an agreement is highly unlikely.
A more likely result from the U.S.-German discussions is an agreement by the American side not to spy on German leaders like Merkel and also not to eavesdrop on German companies for economically competitive reasons, the former official said.
However, he said that any such promise would be largely empty, as U.S. eavesdropping rules already bar official eavesdropping for the purpose of commercial industrial espionage. U.S. officials say this policy is at odds with the practices of both friendly and adversarial foreign countries.
The White House aims to complete a review of NSA surveillance practices by the end of the year and has acknowledged that more constraints are needed to ensure privacy rights are protected.
President Barack Obama, who has come under a stream of criticism from abroad over the NSA's activities, is considering a ban on U.S. eavesdropping on leaders of allied nations.據英國媒體11月6日報道，一名奧巴馬政府高官11月5日稱，美國正努力改善與德國的情報合作，但兩國間不太可能會簽訂徹底的“不監視（no-spy）”協議。
該官員說：“目前，我們沒有就全面的不監視協議進行談判，不過我們同意兩國間要增進了解，如果做法得當，將鞏固我們的關係。”
在斯諾登機密文件曝出美國竊聽德國總理默克爾後，德媒紛紛推測德國政府可能會尋求加入“五眼”情報聯盟。這個聯盟除了美國外，還有英國、加拿大、澳大利亞和新西蘭等4個英語國家。該聯盟將全球劃分爲不同的竊聽目標區域，並共享情報。
一名前美國情報官員說，要邀請德國加入這一聯盟需徵得五國一致同意，而達成這種協議的可能性很低。德美所討論的協議更可能的結果是，美國方面不再竊聽默克爾等德國領導人，也不再爲經濟原因監聽德國公司。
然而，任何類似許諾很大程度上都會落空。美國已經明令禁止爲商業動機進行監聽，但不管是對盟友還是敵人，這一政策在實際操作中都沒有落實。
白宮打算2013年底前徹查美國國家安全局（NSA）的監聽活動，且已承認需要加強限制監聽，保障隱私權。隨着國際上一連串對美國監聽行爲的不滿，美國總統奧巴馬也正考慮禁止竊聽盟友國家的領導人。
