National Security Agency reportedly bugged the United Nations’ New York headquarters, according to Germany’s Der Spiegel weekly.
The development in the ongoing NSA eavesdropping scandal could put a bigger strain on relations between the U.S. government and its allies, Reuters said. Der Spiegel cited secret U.S. documents that were obtained by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, a fugitive from the U.S. who is seeking asylum in Russia. Snowden’s leaks have been a major embarrassment to the NSA, which has claimed in the past it does not spy on Americans without legal cause.
Der Spiegel said the European Union and the U.N.’s Vienna-based nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), were spying targets. In the summer of 2012, the NSA cracked the UN’s video conferencing system. Within three weeks of that hack, the number of decoded communications rose to 458 from 12.