Story highlights
The Washington Post published NSA document on Monday attributed to Edward Snowden
The Indian party BJP was one of six political organizations deemed worthy of inspecting
A list of recommended spying targets included 193 countries
India has summoned a senior U.S. diplomat over reports the United States authorized its National Security Agency to spy on the ruling party, the BJP, an official said Wednesday.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
According to the latest disclosures by NSA leaker Edward Snowden published by the Washington Post on Monday, the NSA obtained legal authorization to spy on the BJP in 2010, when it was the opposition party.
The BJP, or Bharatiya Janata Party, came to national power in May in an electoral landslide.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approved a broad certification for spying abroad in 2010, which included a list of 193 countries to concentrate on, the Post reported.
The Post reported that the list was a recommendation and that the agency was not required to spy on all of them.
The approval permitted the NSA to intercept communications through U.S. companies related to targets on the list, the report said.
Also on the list were banks and international agencies such as the World Bank Group and the European Union.
The BJP was one of six political organizations recommended for observation. The list also included the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and the Pakistan Peoples Party.
At present, there’s no full-time U.S. ambassador in New Delhi. The embassy is led by Kathleen Stephens as the United States Chargé d’Affaires ad interim to India.
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