A new notice from the Office of Management and Budget is objecting strongly to language in the newest intelligence funding bill which would ban any intelligence sharing with foreign countries, saying the language imperils foreign relations on several fronts.
The biggest near-term problem would be the Obama Administration’s intentions to share certain documents with the German government to facilitate their probe of NSA spying on German companies and officials. The bill would effectively prevent the White House from sharing anything with them.
NSA surveillance of German officials has been a huge problem in US-German relations, and the administration is keen to let loose of some documents to show that the practice was comparatively limited. Refusing all cooperation would prevent this sort of PR management of the situation.
The OMB notice warns that the language may lead to a veto by the president, though the White House has declined all direct comment on that matter, and does not seem to want to engage in a public fight over sharing intelligence with other countries.
The usual. The world's exemplary democracy can't be asked to act within the law but its officials and agents have to be recognized as being above the law by the rest of the world.
We don't need no stinkin' foreign relations – we are EXCEPTIONAL(ly arrogant)!!!