 "NSA spied on Toronto G-20 summit in 2010")
Canadian authorities allowed the US National Security Agency to conduct widespread surveillance during the G-20 summit in 2010 which was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and over 20 other world leaders, according to a media report.
The briefing notes, stamped "Top Secret," show the US turned its Ottawa embassy into a security command post during a six-day spying operation by the NSA while Singh, President Barack Obama and 25 other foreign heads of government were in Canada in June of 2010, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Reported.
It cites documents shared by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who revealed details of the extensive US operation to access and monitor global communications.
The documents do not reveal the precise targets of espionage by the NSA - and possibly its Canadian partner - during the Toronto summit, the report said.
The G20 summit in Toronto had a lot on its agenda that would have been of acute interest to the NSA and Canada, it said, adding that the world was still struggling to climb out of the great recession of 2008 and the leaders were debating a wide array of possible measures including a global tax on banks, an idea opposed by both the US and Canada.
The report, first aired late on Wednesday, said the operation was no secret to Canadian authorities.
It quoted an NSA briefing note describing the operation as "closely coordinated with the Canadian partner".
The NSA and its Canadian "partner," the Communications Security Establishment Canada, gather foreign intelligence for their respective governments by covertly intercepting phone calls and hacking into computer systems around the world.
The Canadian agency is part of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network that includes the US, Britain, New Zealand and Australia.
Both the US and Canadian intelligence agencies have been implicated with their British counterpart in hacking the phone calls and emails of foreign politicians and diplomats attending the G20 summit in London in 2009, the report said.
Snowden had earlier revealed that the NSA spied on close allies such as Germany and Brazil, prompting heated diplomatic spats with Washington.
Canadian official sources declined to make any comment.
The briefing notes, stamped "Top Secret," show the US turned its Ottawa embassy into a security command post during a six-day spying operation by the NSA while Singh, President Barack Obama and 25 other foreign heads of government were in Canada in June of 2010, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Reported.
It cites documents shared by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who revealed details of the extensive US operation to access and monitor global communications.
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Snowden fled to Russia via Hong Kong at the end of May. He was granted a temporary asylum by the Russian authorities in June, after spending around a month at the Moscow airport.
The documents do not reveal the precise targets of espionage by the NSA - and possibly its Canadian partner - during the Toronto summit, the report said.
The G20 summit in Toronto had a lot on its agenda that would have been of acute interest to the NSA and Canada, it said, adding that the world was still struggling to climb out of the great recession of 2008 and the leaders were debating a wide array of possible measures including a global tax on banks, an idea opposed by both the US and Canada.
The report, first aired late on Wednesday, said the operation was no secret to Canadian authorities.
It quoted an NSA briefing note describing the operation as "closely coordinated with the Canadian partner".
The NSA and its Canadian "partner," the Communications Security Establishment Canada, gather foreign intelligence for their respective governments by covertly intercepting phone calls and hacking into computer systems around the world.
The Canadian agency is part of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network that includes the US, Britain, New Zealand and Australia.
Both the US and Canadian intelligence agencies have been implicated with their British counterpart in hacking the phone calls and emails of foreign politicians and diplomats attending the G20 summit in London in 2009, the report said.
Snowden had earlier revealed that the NSA spied on close allies such as Germany and Brazil, prompting heated diplomatic spats with Washington.
Canadian official sources declined to make any comment.