Iceland, Finns, Norway, Sweden claim US embassies spy on citizens.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11734862

Apparently, the United States has been using it's embassies to spy on the citizens of several Nordic countries. The US State Department says this is to counter terrorist elements that may threaten US embassies, citing the attacks on the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya as something of a justification.

Yeah, cuz Sweden is some sort of haven for Al-Qeada, huh?

Read the article for the whole story, cuz I have my biases. But I just gotta wonder how the US would react if another country used it's embassies to spy on US citizens... That said, none of this has been verified yet.

Thoughts?

It's well known the Russians have spied on US citizens before on US soil. Both from embassies and not.

People spying on people in a different country is more or less expected.

What possible reason could the US have to spy on the Scandinavian countries?

^^^ Aye, just realised how stupid that sounds. Excuse me. But still, I do not see a reason to spy on Scandinavians of all people...

Curiosity?

Well the embassies were just sort of... there... I mean we had to use them for something... what do you mean they already perform a vital function? Diplomacy? Whats that? You mean they aren't for spying on other countries?

EDIT: Actually, and having actually read the article... the US seems to be being quite reasonable if they are trying to identify potential threats. I'm not sure what information you could get from photographing protestors however... people looking for holes in the security of the building while in the middle of the crowd?

edited 11th Nov '10 3:22:12 PM by GameChainsaw

The use of embassies is a well known and well used tactic for information gathering. I would be surprised if a nation didn't even use them a little bit.

A trick not saying it is common is to incite a crowd to protest and to watch how the target reacts. It can give you some good information on how they will react, how fast, and with what.

edited 11th Nov '10 3:49:56 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Ah, the ol' Bill Bellichick defense. "Everybody else is doing it too!" Well done.

Scandinavian countries have historically had fairly liberal asylum laws and have thus taken in refugees from countries and factions that are not friendly to the US. It is not surprising that the US wishes to keep tabs on these people.

Ah, the ol' Bill Bellichick defense. "Everybody else is doing it too!" Well done.

"It is impossible for nations not to keep their eyes on other nations, corporations not to keep their eyes on other corporations and individuals not to keep their eyes on other people. How they do so varies; that they do so is a permanent part of the human condition." - George Friedman

edited 11th Nov '10 3:58:41 PM by Zephid

The point I was trying to make is that they really shouldn't be surprised and really shouldn't be wagging their fingers in disapproval either. They are just as guilty as everyone else.

All countries spy on all other countries. It's part of the unwritten rules of the game. Getting upset or excited about it is Completely Missing The Point.

That is what I wanted/was trying to say thanks Fighteer.

edited 11th Nov '10 6:20:51 PM by TuefelHundenIV

They're probably surprised that the US has invasion plans for those countries as well.

Yup, some plan in case crap goes south - but that's what war planners get paid to do - plan up weird stuff like that. Other countries do it, also.

So, if other countries do it... does the Croatian military have a hypothetical plan for invading Canada?

..doubtful. Not everyone's military has sufficient planning cell personnel to do stuff like that.

I'd bet Canada has one for Croatia though.

So basically the gist is "Everyone is Crazy-Prepared"?

I'm more curious as to why speak up. As everyone says, this goes on everywhere all the time, so why would the Scandinavians make noise now?

Possible corporate espionage? If I was the Icelandic business community and some U.S. business was somehow getting their hands on vital information through the local embassy, I might pressure the Ministry of Justice into firing a shot across the bow, so to speak.

Or maybe the embassy cameras caught someone that the Icelanders want to find, but the embassy won't share, and the fact-finding inquiry is to get access to the video files.

Or maybe some other illegitimate espionage action is taking place out of the embassy. Or maybe it's a political line to rally patriotic Icelanders for votes. Or something else. I'm just speculating, but SOMETHING had to be the impetus.

Or maybe some other tactical espionage action is taking place out of the embassy.

Fix'd.

I would guess it's to keep an eye out on the middle eastern immigrant population. Also possibly watching the Russian border. I do think it's rather unfair profiling, but then again, nothing out of the ordinary, and I guess from the US point of view it's better to be safe than sorry. And no-one wants to be the guy to say to the president, that the reason Swedish mujahhadin attacked the US was because no-one thought it was worth looking at.

@ GC, within the limits of their budget, yes.

Frankly, I'm baffled. Not only does everyone know that every American embassy has a CIA officer on staff, standing inside your embassy and taking pictures of protesters outside your gates isn't even espionage.