Brazil FM: NSA Surveillance Violates Sovereignty of Targeted Nations

Warns US Is Risking Relations With Its Allies

Brazilian foreign Minister Antonio Patriota today warned that the scope of NSA surveillance schemes has gone far beyond what is legitimately needed to fight terrorism, saying that it had violated the sovereignty of the targeted nations.

“Resorting to tactics that affect the good relations among states must be questioned,” Patriota warned, as the details of the NSA’s surveillance continues to be revealed publicly, and is broader than anyone expected.

Brazil has taken the NSA surveillance extremely seriously, focusing its concerns on evidence that the US was using the surveillance agency to conduct industrial espionage across the world.

The NSA dominated Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Brazil last week, and while he promised “clarification” to the Brazilian government today’s comments suggest that either didn’t happen, or was woefully insufficient given the scope of the violations.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.