The Snowden revelations and their impact on EU-US relations through a crisis communication lens

1. 1
The Edward Snowden revelations and their impact on U.S.-EU relations through a crisis communication lens Katalin Jakucs Crisis Communication The George Washington University April 2014
I. Introduction “[T]he communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk - regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing” 1 could one read in the headlines of The Guardian on 5th of June 2013. The day after, the same newspaper revealed information about the so-called Prism program that allows the NSA “to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats”.2 This was the beginning of a prominent crisis that immediately put the U.S in the spotlight with many demanding answers on these spying allegations leaked to the press by former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden. Since then, many other documents have been disclosed to the media that revealed information on NSA practices such as the Agency collecting information not only on US but also on foreign citizens, spying on European countries and EU premises and monitoring the phone calls of many world leaders. The crisis thus has many dimensions; however, this paper will only focus on the allegations affecting EU-U.S. relations. It will assess how the President of the United States replied to this crisis (crisis communication) and will evaluate the steps he made to regain the trust of his long-standing European allies (crisis management). 1 Glenn Greenwald. “NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily”. The Guardian. June 5, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order (accessed: 04/06/2014) 2 Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill. “NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others”. The Guardian, June 6, 2014 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data (accessed: 04/08/2014)

2. 2
Before entering into the details, one has to admit that the unique communication challenge of this case lies in the fact that the U.S government does not know the exact number and the content of the documents Edward Snowden took from the NSA and when and how many of them will be leaked to the press. Therefore, the US could not comply with one of the golden rules of crisis communication according to which you should always be the one breaking the bad news in order to avoid being in a defensive position.
II. The crisis
The revelations about the U.S. intelligence agency‟s surveillance operations soon raised concern on the other side of the Atlantic. From the general public to top politicians, everyone started to raise the question whether Prism and other similar data collecting programs are aimed at European citizens as well and whether the fundamental privacy rights of EU citizens have been breached. EU officials expressed serious concern and demanded "swift and concrete answers".3 Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Fundamental Rights indicated that the US‟s reply could have an impact on the whole transatlantic relationship.4
The issue was raised at the EU-U.S. justice ministers' meeting in Dublin between 13- 14 June during which the parties agreed to set up a working group to determine the implications of the surveillance programs for the European public.5 Obama himself commented on the issue a few days later during his visit to Germany. In a joint press conference with Chancellor Merkel, the president first reiterated his commitment to civil liberties and privacy and expressed his confidence about an “appropriate balance” being struck between protecting the American people and the American values and ideals. He went
3Alan Travis, Spencer Ackerman and Paul Lewis. “Europe warns US: you must respect the privacy of our citizens”. The Guardian. June 11, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/11/europe-us-privacy (accessed: 04/05/2014)
4 Ibid. 5 Traynor, Ian, Jones Sam and Topham Gwyn. “Prism NSA surveillance 'did not collect European data in bulk'”. The Guardian. June 14, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/14/prism-nsa-surveillance-european- data (accessed: 04/05/2014)

3. 3
on by saying that nobody was listening to the conversations or rifling through the emails of ordinary citizens being it German, French, American or anybody else. Finally, he promised to take further actions and look into these programs.6 This was, from a crisis communication point of view, a good speech: he proved to have understood the public‟s concern and expressed his own commitment to privacy, promised to take further action and to report back on his findings, and most importantly, he replied to the main concern of Europeans: nobody is listening to your conversations.
Until this point the US managed to keep the crisis to a certain extent ‟under control‟ however, things started to seriously go wrong on June 29, when the German newspaper the Spiegel revealed that the NSA placed bugs in the EU's diplomatic representation in Washington, New York and Brussels and infiltrated their computer network.7 A day later the same newspaper reported that Germany was one of the main targets of the NSA and around half a billion telephone calls, emails and text messages were monitored in the country every month.8 Outraged and shocked European officials demanded quick explanation from their American counterpart.
For Washington, the issue at stake was high: many of the European countries are historical partners of the U.S. and the EU as a whole is an extremely important strategic, political and economic partner of Washington. Endangering relations with such an important ally could have had serious implications for the U.S. Also, the new allegations came at a very delicate time: just a few days before the negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and
6 Remarks by President Obama and German Chancellor Merkel in Joint Press Conference, June 19, 2013 http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/19/remarks-president-obama-and-german-chancellor- merkel-joint-press-confere (accessed: 04/04/2014) 7 Laura Poitras, Marcel Rosenbach, Fidelius Schmid and Holger, Stark. “Attacks from America: NSA Spied on European Union Offices”. Spiegel Online. June 29, 2013.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/nsa-spied-on-european-union-offices-a-908590.html (accessed: 04/05/2014) 8 Laura Poitras, Marcel Rosenbach, Fidelius Schmid and Holger, Stark. “Partner and Target: NSA Snoops on 500 Million German Data Connections”. Spiegel Online. June 30, 2013. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/nsa-spies-on-500-million-german-data-connections-a-908648.html (accessed: 04/05/2014)

4. 4
Investment Partnership (TTIP) - an agreement which is estimated to boost the US economy by €90 billion - were about to start. In Europe many voices started to echo that if the allegations were to be true, TTIP negotiations could be halted; indicating that the U.S. should take the issue seriously.
Der Spiegel broke the story over the weekend but there was no immediate public response from Washington. Obama, who at the time was on a trip in Africa, only addressed the issue publicly two days later in a press conference. He said his team was still evaluating the content of the article and once they have their reply they would communicate it to their allies. He then offered to provide some general comments and again explained that they were not snooping into the emails and phone calls of average citizens. So far so good. Then he went on explaining how intelligence services work in general and said that the NSA was only “trying to understand the world better […] from sources that aren't available through the New York Times or NBC News".9 This however was a hardly satisfactory explanation for his outraged European allies.
At this point in the crisis it became obvious that the two parties had strongly differing views on the issue. The EU deemed the spying completely „unacceptable‟, „shocking‟, „appalling‟ and something that „partners‟ don‟t do.10 Some leaders even reminded that we were not in the Cold War anymore.11 Whereas for the US spying seemed to be sort of a commonplace, nothing but a usual activity that every intelligence service, being it Asian,
9 Remarks by President Obama and President Kikwete of Tanzania at Joint Press Conference, July 01, 2013. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/01/remarks-president-obama-and-president-kikwete- tanzania-joint-press-confe (accessed: 04/04/2014) 10 “World from Berlin: 'Obama Owes His Allies an Explanation'”. Spiegel Online. July 1, 2013. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/german-press-snowden-affair-and-nsa-eu-spying-revelations-a- 908723.html (accessed: 04/05/2014) 11 Raum, Tom. “Obama Defends NSA Bugging of EU Allies; Snowden Seeks Asylum in Russia”. HighBeam, July 2, 2013 http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-34846379.html (accessed: 04/05/2014)

5. 5
European or American, do and “if that weren't the case, then there would be no use for an intelligence service”.12
Concerning the wider issue of data protection, it looks like for Americans when it is about privacy versus security, the latter comes first. As Obama himself admitted in his speech of 7th of June, “it's important to recognize that you can't have 100 percent security and also then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience”.13 However, for Europeans security should not come at the expense of privacy and a proportionate balance should be struck between the two. What shocked Europeans in particular in this issue was the massive scale of surveillance that for them could not be justified by the fight against terrorism.
Notwithstanding the opposing views, when handling a crisis it‟s crucial to understand your audience and to address their concerns. And that‟s what Obama had to do and did to a certain extent. He agreed to set up a joint EU-U.S. expert group to investigate the allegations about the U.S. spying on EU offices.14 He reassured chancellor Merkel in a phone call that "the United States takes seriously the concerns of our European allies and partners”15. Since the first revelations he has held several meetings with Intelligence Community leaders and emphasized the importance of openness and transparency.16 On August 9, he called for a high-level expert group to review the NSA‟s intelligence programs and called for increasing oversight and more transparency and clear protections against abuse.17
12 Remarks by President Obama and President Kikwete of Tanzania at Joint Press Conference, July 01, 2013. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/01/remarks-president-obama-and-president-kikwete- tanzania-joint-press-confe (accessed: 04/04/2014)
13 Statement by the President, Fairmont Hotel, San Jose, California, June 07, 2013 http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/07/statement-president (accessed: 04/04/2014) 14 “Joint EU-US expert group to probe alleged US spying on EU officials”. WorldNews, 4 July 2013. http://article.wn.com/view/2013/07/04/Joint_EUUS_expert_group_to_probe_alleged_US_spying_on_EU_off/ (accessed: 04/04/2014)
15 Readout of the President‟s Phone Call with Chancellor Merkel of Germany, July 03, 2013
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/03/readout-president-s-phone-call-chancellor-merkel- germany (accessed: 04/04/2014)
16 Background on the President‟s Statement on Reforms to NSA Programs, August 09, 2013
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/09/background-president-s-statement-reforms-nsa- programs (accessed: 04/04/2014)
17 Remarks by the President in a Press Conference, August 09, 2013

6. 6
All these steps helped smoothing the anger of European allies and sent a strong message about their concerns being taken seriously by the U.S. In the meantime, an unaccepted event shook the international community: Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad‟s alleged use of chemical weapons on its own citizens. Suddenly everyone‟s attention shifted to this issue and to the possibility of a military intervention. Therefore, partly thanks to Obama‟s efforts and partly to this unexpected Syrian event, the buzz around the spying issue somewhat calmed down until late October when new allegations hit the headlines: the NSA was recording the phone calls of millions of French citizens and was even monitoring German Chancellor Angela Merkel‟s phone. If this had turned out to be true, it would have been in strike contrast with what the president said at the beginning of the crisis: “I'm the end user of this kind of intelligence. And if I want to know what Chancellor Merkel is thinking, I will call Chancellor Merkel.”18
To handle the crisis, Obama personally called the leaders of both nations and reassured President Hollande of France that the U.S has started to review his intelligence programs in order to find the proper balance between security and privacy concerns.19 He also talked to Chancellor Merkel on the phone and according to the White House readout, he assured the Chancellor that the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor her communications.20 This was a somewhat clever answer that avoided the main question which was not whether Merkel‟s phone is being tapped now but whether it has been in the past. This
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/09/remarks-president-press-conference (accessed: 04/04/2014)
18 Remarks by President Obama and President Kikwete of Tanzania at Joint Press Conference, July 01, 2013. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/01/remarks-president-obama-and-president-kikwete- tanzania-joint-press-confe (accessed: 04/04/2014)
19Readout of the President‟s Call with President Hollande of France, October 21, 2013.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/10/21/readout-president-s-call-president-hollande-france (accessed: 04/04/2014)
20 Readout of the President‟s Phone Call with Chancellor Merkel of Germany, October 26, 2013.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/10/23/readout-president-s-phone-call-chancellor-merkel- germany (accessed: 04/04/2014)

7. 7
reply however was not enough for the outraged and shocked European press and public who continued to pose the question about whether such activity has been done in the past.
Europe was still digesting the news about the NSA spying on one of its most eminent political figure when new allegations revealed in December that top EU officials were also targeted by the NSA including Joaquin Almunia, European commissioner for competition policy.21 These new allegations again were deemed unacceptable in Europe and created heavy criticism toward the U.S. In the wake of these revelations, Obama suggested, when speaking at a press conference in the White House, that the U.S. intelligence‟s surveillance methods may be reviewed.22 "There are ways we can do it potentially, that gives people greater assurance that there are checks and balances, that there is sufficient oversight, sufficient transparency"23 he said. This was however hardly enough to calm down the European partners who already heard enough promises and were angrily awaiting real actions.
When communicating during a crisis, what you have to do is to go out there from the very beginning, signal that you take the issue seriously and promise to investigate and report back. Obama‟s long-await report finally came on January 17 when he delivered a speech on the outcomes of the administration‟s review of the signals intelligence programs. He reiterated the changes that the new presidential directive he had just approved would bring to the way intelligence operates home and abroad and dedicated a part of his speech to address the concerns of his allies abroad. He ordered a transition to end the Section 215 bulk metadata program as it currently exists, he acknowledged that the U.S. as a global leader needs to balance security and privacy requirements to maintain the trust of foreign leaders, he reassured that the United States was not spying on ordinary people who don‟t threaten their
21 James Ball and Nick Hopkins. “GCHQ and NSA targeted charities, Germans, Israeli PM and EU chief”. The Guardian. December 20, 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/20/gchq-targeted-aid-agencies- german-government-eu-commissioner (accessed: 04/04/2014) 22“Obama: NSA Spying Sweeps May Be Reviewed”. Sky News. December 21, 2013. http://news.sky.com/story/1185576/obama-nsa-spying-sweeps-may-be-reviewed (accessed: 04/05/2014).
23 Ibid.

8. 8
national security, and promised to “pick up the phone and call” rather than to turn to surveillance when he wants to know what the leaders of his close friends and allies think about an issue. As he said in his speech he has “taken the unprecedented step of extending certain protections that we have for the American people to people overseas”24. Finally, to make sure that these reforms will be properly followed through he also announced some important changes to how the government is organized.
Obama‟s speech received a mixed response in Europe. Some felt that European concerns have not been addressed and that the measures he introduced do not go far enough, while others welcomed the initiative and expressed hope for future actions. Notwithstanding its ambivalent reception, this speech was a turning point in the crisis. The bottom has been hit,
EU-U.S. relations hasn‟t been so tense for quite some time as since the beginning of the crisis, but with this speech a new phase has started. The initial anger, shock and indignation was over and from this point on the U.S. could start working on getting out of the crisis and on slowly but surely reestablishing the trust of its European allies.
What signals that a new phase has started is that at the beginning of this year, Obama personally met with many European leaders who all gave the impression that they were willing to put the NSA crisis behind and to endeavor towards cooperation. In January, president Rajoy of Spain when asked about the issue during his visit to Obama replied that his government deemed the explanations given about the NSA “satisfactory”.25 In February, French president François Hollande also sent a similar message during a joint press conference with Obama when he highlighted that the Snowden issue “was in the past” and
24 Remarks by the President on Review of Signals Intelligence, January 17, 2014
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/17/remarks-president-review-signals-intelligence (accessed: 04/04/2014)
25 Remarks by President Obama and President Rajoy of Spain After Bilateral Meeting, January 13, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/13/remarks-president-obama-and-president-rajoy-spain- after-bilateral-meetin (accessed: 04/04/2014)

9. 9
that “mutual trust has been restored”.26 In March, Obama made a trip to Europe and met his Italian and Dutch counterpart who also reaffirmed their readiness to move forward. During the EU-US Summit the leaders of the European Union and the United States also agreed to reaffirm their strong partnership.27
Apart from Obama‟s and his administration‟s efforts what probably contributed to re- establishing relations and move forward was the necessity to cooperate on a new crisis: Crimea. In the first months of 2014, Obama had many phone calls with his European counterparts but the conversations were not dominated by data privacy issues any more but the attention centered on the crisis in Ukraine. Just as Fink says in his Crisis Communication book, sometimes what helps you out of a crisis is the outbreak of another crisis. It seems like this is valid for the NSA case; the European leaders‟ attention has been indeed shifted to the Ukrainian issue during the last few months. However, one should not forget that Edward Snowden still possesses many classified documents containing NSA secrets and as no one knows when and what he will reveal, it would be too confident to say that the crisis is over.
III. Conclusion
After going through the statements, press releases, actions and reactions of Obama, we can say that he handled the crisis fairly well. At the beginning, there were some flaws in his communication: he did not realize the importance of data protection for Europeans and how seriously his allies took the allegations. When the first articles were revealed, he did not reply immediately which gave the possibility to European leaders and publics to get all their information from the press and form on opinion based on that. Therefore, when he addressed
26 Press Conference by President Obama and President Hollande of France February 11, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/02/11/press-conference-president-obama-and-president- hollande-france (accessed: 04/04/2014)
27 EU-US Summit: Joint Statement, March 26, 2014.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/26/eu-us-summit-joint-statement (accessed: 04/04/2014)

10. 10
the issue, Europeans were already convinced that they were being watched and that their e- mails and phone calls were being monitored. And in a crisis, as Fink highlights, “perception always trumps reality”.28 Therefore, even if ordinary citizens were not being watched, that was the general perception and that‟s what Obama had to address.
When the allegations about the US spying on EU premises broke, Obama made the same mistake. Whereas his European allies were infuriated by the news, Obama, instead of giving an immediate reply, talked about the issue only two days later when a question was address to him during a press conference. He should have made a short press statement the day the allegations broke to show his commitment to his allies and to reassure them that answers will be given once his team had a chance to properly go through the article. This would have helped to ease tension and would have sent a message that Obama understands and takes the concerns of Europe seriously.
However, after the initial inertia, it did not take him too much time to understand his audience and recognize the issue at stake. Consequently, his rhetoric has significantly changed over time: while at the beginning of the crisis he firmly asserted that a right balance was struck between security and privacy he later admitted that the way information was gathered might have been to “too intrusive”29. He also took different measures to handle the crisis: he set up an expert group to review the NSA programs, announced changes to the way intelligence operates and made sure to reiterate as many times as possible that no one was listening to the phone calls of ordinary citizens.
When assessing how he handled the crisis, one has to admit that the President was in a very difficult situation as he also had to provide answers to domestic audiences. He had to
28 Steven Fink. “Crisis Communications”. Mc Graw Hill Education. 2013. p.30.
29Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Reinfeldt of Sweden in Joint Press Conference, September 04, 2013 http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/09/04/remarks-president-obama-and-prime-minister- reinfeldt-sweden-joint-press- (accessed: 04/04/2014)

11. 11
address the concerns of American citizens as well for whom security might weight more than privacy and he also had to stand up for his intelligence agency. He could not have just apologized to his allies and admitted that the US intelligence went too far. He had to balance the concerns of his own citizens and those of his allies thus; his hands were to a certain extent tied. That‟s why he will probably never manage to set up as strong data and privacy protection measures as Europeans would want him to. Also, another difficulty of this case is that he did not know when and what would Snowden leak to the press and therefore he had no control over the message and had to always find himself in a defensive position and to react to information as it was framed by the press.
Notwithstanding these difficulties, his efforts proved to be sufficient enough to gain back the trust of European leaders: the TTIP negotiations were not halted and his visit to Europe in March suggests that the relationship has been restored. He was though less successful in convincing one of his key audiences: the European Parliament (EP) and the European public that this institution represents. Obama‟s January speech and the reforms he announced were not convincing enough for the EP that passed a resolution on March 12, 2014, that calls for the suspension of the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework and calls on the Parliament to withhold its consent to the final TTIP deal. This shows that even if it looks like the worst part of the crisis is over, there is still a long way to go until confidence will be fully restored. Just as the president himself admitted: winning back the trust not just of governments but, more importantly, of ordinary citizens is not going to happen overnight.30
30 Press Conference with President Obama and Prime Minister Rutte of the Netherlands, March 25, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/25/press-conference-president-obama-and-prime-minister- rutte-netherlands (accessed: 04/04/2014)

12. 12
Bibliography Articles:  Duggan, Oliver. “President Obama to hold crisis talks with Germany to settle claims that US spied of EU allies”. July 4, 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/president-obama-to-hold-crisis-talks-with- germany-to-settle-claims-that-us-spied-of-eu-allies-8687264.html (accessed: 04/05/2014).  Egger, Pepe. “Further revelations of US spying on German government make parliamentary investigation, delay in FTA negotiations likely”. IHS Global Insight Daily Analysis. October 28, 2013. (accessed: 04/05/2014).
 “EU alarmed over alleged US bugging of its offices”. July 1, 2013. Borenopost online. http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/07/01/eu-alarmed-over-alleged-us-bugging-of-its- offices/ (accessed: 04/05/2014).
 “EU/US: Americans in Brussels to explain PRISM surveillance”. HighBeam, July 23, 2013. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-337511761.html (accessed: 04/05/2014).
 Fidler, Stephen, Robinson, Frances and Stevens, Laura. “EU up in arms over alleged spying by NSA; Accusations of bugging, hacking are based on Snowden leaks”. July 1, 2013. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/eu-up-in-arms-over-alleged-spying-by-nsa- 2013-07-01 (accessed: 04/05/2014).  Gellman, Barton and Poitras, Laura. “U.S. mines Internet firms' data, documents show”. The Washington Post, June 7, 2013. http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from-nine- us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845- d970ccb04497_story.html (accessed: 04/08/2014).
 Glenn Greenwald. “NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily”. The Guardian. June 5, 2013.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court- order (accessed: 04/06/2014).
 Graef, Aileen. “Edward Snowden to EU: NSA is spying on all of Europe”. United Press International. March 07, 2014. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World- News/2014/03/07/Edward-Snowden-to-EU-NSA-is-spying-on-all-of- Europe/6141394214687/ (accessed: 04/05/2014).
 Greenwald, Glenn and MacAskill, Ewen. “NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others”. The Guardian, June 6, 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data (accessed: 04/08/2014).

13. 13
 Henderson, Nicole. “Edward Snowden Provides Testimony to European Parliament as Part of Mass Surveillance Inquiry”. Thewir.com. March 07, 2014. http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/edward-snowden-provides-testimony- european-parliament-part-mass-surveillance-inquiry (accessed: 04/05/2014).  “MEPs back 'immediate suspension' of 'safe harbour' data transfers and threaten to veto US trade deal”. Out.Law.com. February 14, 2014. http://www.out- law.com/articles/2014/february/meps-back-immediate-suspension-of-safe-harbour- data-transfers-and-threaten-to-veto-us-trade-deal/ (accessed: 04/05/2014).  “New NSA spy claims hit Germany as EU calls on Washington for explanations”. Euronews. June 30, 2013. http://www.euronews.com/2013/06/30/new-nsa-spy-claims- hit-germany-as-eu-calls-on-washington-for-explanations/ (accessed: 04/05/2014).
 “Obama: NSA Spying Sweeps May Be Reviewed”. Sky News. December 21, 2013. http://news.sky.com/story/1185576/obama-nsa-spying-sweeps-may-be-reviewed (accessed: 04/05/2014).
 Passingham, Michael. “PRISM: NSA accused of hacking EU computers and bugging buildings”. Incisive Financial Publishing Limited. July 1, 2013. (accessed: 04/05/2014).
 Poitras, Laura, Rosenbach, Marcel, Schmid, Fidelius and Stark, Holger. “Attacks from America: NSA Spied on European Union Offices”. Spiegel Online. June 29, 2013. http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/nsa-spied-on-european-union-offices-a- 908590.html (accessed: 04/05/2014).
 Poitras, Laura, Rosenbach, Marcel and Stark, Holger. “Ally and Target: US Intelligence Watches Germany Closely”. Spiegel. August 12, 2013. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/germany-is-a-both-a-partner-to-and-a-target- of-nsa-surveillance-a-916029.html (accessed: 04/05/2014).
 Rachman, Gideon. “Obama and the crumbling of a liberal fantasy hero”. The Financial Times. July 2, 2013. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1627b9a4-e234-11e2-87ec- 00144feabdc0.html#axzz2yXMGbyKq (accessed: 04/05/2014).  Raum, Tom. “Obama Defends NSA Bugging of EU Allies; Snowden Seeks Asylum in Russia”. HighBeam, July 2, 2013. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-34846379.html (accessed: 04/05/2014).
 Roberts, Dan and Ackerman, Spencer. “Anger swells after NSA phone records court order revelations”. The Guardian, June 6, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/obama-administration-nsa-verizon- records (accessed: 04/05/2014).
 Roberts, Dan and Ackerman, Spencer. “Obama defiant over NSA revelations ahead of summit with Chinese premier”. The Guardian, June 7, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/07/obama-nsa-revelations-chinese- summit (accessed: 04/05/2014).

14. 14
 S. Rajagopalan. “US bugged EU offices, tapped German phones”. July 1, 2013. http://www.dailypioneer.com/world/us-bugged-eu-offices-tapped-german-phones.html (accessed: 04/05/2014).  “Schulz on alleged bugging of EU office by the US authorities”. Press Release. Brussels, June 29, 2013. European Parliament. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/the- president/en/press/press_release_speeches/press_release/2013/2013-june/html/schulz- on-alleged-bugging-of-eu-office-by-the-us-authorities (accessed: 04/05/2014).
 “Snooping on good friends”. The Age, July 2, 2013, John Fairfax Holdings Limited. www.theage.com.au (accessed: 04/05/2014).
 “The NSA files”. The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/world/the-nsa-files (accessed: 04/08/2014).
 Toryy, Harriet, Schechner, Sam. “Spy Claims Send Chill Ahead of Trade Talks. France and Germany Demand Clarity on Claims U.S. Spied on EU”. The Wall Street Journal. July 1, 2013. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324436104578579152400246308 (accessed: 04/05/2014).  Travis, Alan, Ackerman, Spencer and Lewis, Paul. “Europe warns US: you must respect the privacy of our citizens”. The Guardian, June 11, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/11/europe-us-privacy (accessed: 04/05/2014).  Travis, Alan, Osborne, Louise and Davies, Lizzy. “World reaction: Europe's leaders seek answers on US collection of data from EU”. The Guardian. June 11, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/10/european-reaction-us-surveillance- revelations (accessed: 04/05/2014).
 Traynor, Ian, Jones Sam and Topham Gwyn. “Prism NSA surveillance 'did not collect European data in bulk'”. The Guardian. June 14, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/14/prism-nsa-surveillance-european-data (accessed: 04/05/2014).  Watt, Nicholas. “Prism scandal: European Commission to seek privacy guarantees from US”. The Guardian. June 11, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/10/prism-european-commissions-privacy- guarantees (accessed: 04/05/2014).  “World from Berlin: 'Obama Owes His Allies an Explanation'”. Spiegel Online. July 1, 2013. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/german-press-snowden-affair-and-nsa- eu-spying-revelations-a-908723.html (accessed: 04/05/2014). Book:  Steven Fink. “Crisis Communications”. Mc Graw Hill Education. 2013.

15. 15
The White House, Statements and Releases:
 Statement by the President, Fairmont Hotel, San Jose, California, June 07, 2013. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/07/statement-president (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Readout of the President‟s Phone Call with Chancellor Merkel of Germany, July 03, 2013.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/03/readout-president-s-phone- call-chancellor-merkel-germany (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Background on the President‟s Statement on Reforms to NSA Programs, August 09, 2013.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/09/background-president-s- statement-reforms-nsa-programs (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Statement by the Press Secretary on the Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technology, August 27, 2013.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/27/statement-press-secretary- review-group-intelligence-and-communications-t (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Readout of the President‟s Call with President Hollande of France, October 21, 2013.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/10/21/readout-president-s-call- president-hollande-france (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Readout of Vice President Biden‟s Meeting with Italian Senate President Pietro Grasso October 25, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press- office/2013/10/25/readout-vice-president-biden-s-meeting-italian-senate-president- pietro-g (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Readout of the President‟s Phone Call with Chancellor Merkel of Germany, October 26, 2013.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/10/23/readout-president-s-phone- call-chancellor-merkel-germany (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 President Obama‟s Meeting with the Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies, December 18, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the- press-office/2013/10/25/readout-vice-president-biden-s-meeting-italian-senate- president-pietro-g (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Presidential Policy Directive -- Signals Intelligence Activities, January 17, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/17/presidential-policy-directive- signals-intelligence-activities (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 FACT SHEET: Review of U.S. Signals Intelligence, January 17, 2014.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/17/fact-sheet-review-us-signals- intelligence (accessed: 04/04/2014)

16. 16
 Press Conference by President Obama and President Hollande of France February 11, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/02/11/press-conference- president-obama-and-president-hollande-france (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Press Conference with President Obama and Prime Minister Rutte of the Netherlands, March 25, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/25/press- conference-president-obama-and-prime-minister-rutte-netherlands (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 EU-US Summit: Joint Statement, March 26, 2014.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/26/eu-us-summit-joint-statement (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Statement by the President on the Section 215 Bulk Metadata Program, March 27, 2014.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/27/statement-president-section- 215-bulk-metadata-program (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 FACT SHEET: The Administration‟s Proposal for Ending the Section 215 Bulk Telephony Metadata Program, March 27, 2014.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/27/fact-sheet-administration-s- proposal-ending-section-215-bulk-telephony-m (accessed: 04/04/2014)
The White House, Speeches and Remarks:
 Remarks by President Obama and German Chancellor Merkel in Joint Press Conference, June 19, 2013. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press- office/2013/06/19/remarks-president-obama-and-german-chancellor-merkel-joint- press-confere (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Remarks by President Obama and President Kikwete of Tanzania at Joint Press Conference, July 01, 2013. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press- office/2013/07/01/remarks-president-obama-and-president-kikwete-tanzania-joint- press-confe (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Remarks by the President in a Press Conference, August 09, 2013.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/09/remarks-president-press- conference (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Reinfeldt of Sweden in Joint Press Conference, September 04, 2013. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press- office/2013/09/04/remarks-president-obama-and-prime-minister-reinfeldt-sweden- joint-press- (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Remarks by President Obama and President Hollande of France after Bilateral Meeting, September 06, 2013.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/09/06/remarks-president-obama- and-president-hollande-france-after-bilateral-me (accessed: 04/04/2014)

17. 17
 Press Conference by the President, December 20, 2013.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/12/20/press-conference-president
(accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Remarks by President Obama and President Rajoy of Spain After Bilateral Meeting, January 13, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/13/remarks- president-obama-and-president-rajoy-spain-after-bilateral-meetin (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Remarks by the President on Review of Signals Intelligence, January 17, 2014.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/17/remarks-president-review- signals-intelligence (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address, January 28, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/28/president-barack-obamas- state-union-address (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Press Conference by President Obama and President Hollande of France, February 11, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/02/11/press-conference- president-obama-and-president-hollande-france (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Remarks by President Obama and President Hollande of France in Exchange of Toasts at State Dinner February 11, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press- office/2014/02/11/remarks-president-obama-and-president-hollande-france-exchange- toasts-st (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Remarks by President Obama and President Hollande of France at Arrival Ceremony February 02, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/02/11/remarks- president-obama-and-president-hollande-france-arrival-ceremony (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Press Conference by President Obama, European Council President Van Rompuy, and European Commission President Barroso March 26, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/26/press-conference-president- obama-european-council-president-van-rompuy-a (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Remarks by the President in Address to European Youth March 26, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/26/remarks-president-address- european-youth (accessed: 04/04/2014)
 Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Renzi of Italy in Joint Press Conference, March 27, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press- office/2014/03/27/remarks-president-obama-and-prime-minister-renzi-italy-joint- press-confe (accessed: 04/04/2014)