Three French presidents were monitored by the US.

(Baonghean.vn) - According to documents recently published by WikiLeaks, Mediapart, and Libération on June 23, all three French presidents, Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Francois Hollande, were monitored by the NSA – a US electronic intelligence agency – from 2006 to 2012.

It is highly likely that this surveillance continued at least until Francois Hollande entered the Elysée Palace. An NSA document dated May 22, 2012 – just three days after Hollande took office – indicated that he intended to meet with his counterpart Angela Merkel to discuss Greece's exit from the eurozone. This information was obtained by the NSA from a conversation between Hollande and French Chancellor Jean-Marc Ayrault. Approximately a month later, the meeting between the two leaders of France and Germany did indeed take place.

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy in Belgium in 2009. Photo: AFP

During Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency, secret discussions monitored by the NSA were widely known, such as Sarkozy's self-proclaimed status as "the only one capable of resolving the financial crisis" or his assertion that "America is no longer capable of leading the world out of the crisis and France will seize this opportunity." The NSA not only had Sarkozy's phone number but also those of figures close to the president, such as Foreign Office Advisor Jean David Levitte and Elysée Palace Secretary-General Claude Gueant.

Furthermore, the NSA's phone number list also included the spokespersons for the State Department, the Ministry of Foreign Trade, and even the Ministry of Europe. Even more concerning, the NSA also knew the phone numbers of officials within the Elysée Palace responsible for internal communications.

A portion of the NSA documents records a conversation between President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on May 22, 2012.

A question that many are currently asking is: How did the NSA manage to install surveillance devices to listen to the conversations of French presidents and other high-ranking officials? The documents released on June 23rd, however, offer no answer to this question.

Chu Thanh

(according to Le Monde)