Espionage Elysée: NSA spied on French leaders

Marissa Brent-Tookey

Marissa Brent-Tookey Jul 13, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>Espionage Elysée: NSA spied on French leaders</h1>
                <h2><p>Wikileaks published documents this morning indicating that the NSA had been listening in on the phone calls of three successive French presidents. Current president Francois Hollande, whose cell phone number is on the list of tapped "selectors," called an emergency meeting of his defense council and met with</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/marissa-brent-tookey-crosscut-com/">Marissa Brent-Tookey</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p><a href="https://wikileaks.org/nsa-france/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">Wikileaks published documents</a> this morning indicating that the NSA had been listening in on the phone calls of three successive French presidents. Current president Francois Hollande, whose cell phone number is on the list of tapped "selectors," called an emergency meeting of his defense council and met with the U.S. ambassador, the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/24/francois-hollande-says-us-spying-on-french-officials-unacceptable-nsa?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">Guardian reports</a>. "We find it hard to understand or imagine what motivates an ally to spy on allies who are often on the same strategic positions in world affairs," said government spokesman Stéphane Le Foll. And an even more irate statement came from the office of the president: "France will not tolerate actions that threaten its security and the protection of its interests."</p>
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Wikileaks published documents this morning indicating that the NSA had been listening in on the phone calls of three successive French presidents. Current president Francois Hollande, whose cell phone number is on the list of tapped "selectors," called an emergency meeting of his defense council and met with the U.S. ambassador, the Guardian reports. "We find it hard to understand or imagine what motivates an ally to spy on allies who are often on the same strategic positions in world affairs," said government spokesman Stéphane Le Foll. And an even more irate statement came from the office of the president: "France will not tolerate actions that threaten its security and the protection of its interests."

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By Marissa Brent-Tookey

Marissa Brent-Tookey is an editorial intern at Crosscut. She holds a B.A. in French from Seattle University and now studies film production at Shoreline Community College. In addition to crewing a doz