NSA To Deny Bugging Diana's Phone
Official Tells CBS News Agency Had Files On Princess Because She Came Up In Others' Conversations
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Report: U.S. Bugged Di's Phone
An official British investigation into Princess Diana's death claimed that she was under surveillance by a U.S. intelligence agency on the last night of her life. Sheila MacVicar has more details.
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U.S. Spied On Princess Di
A British inquiry's findings on Princess Diana's death will be released this week, but some details are leaking out. It will reveal U.S. intelligence bugged her phone. Sheila MacVicar reports.
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Why Would U.S. Bug A Princess?
CBS News RAW: Former British intelligence analyst Crispin Black explains two possible motives for U.S. spy agencies to conduct surveillance on the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
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Diana, Princess of Wales arrives at the Hilton Hotel for the Help the Aged Golden Awards on Nov. 6, 1995. Nearly 10 years after her death in 1997, the NSA is preparing a statement denying that it was eavesdropping on her. (Getty Images/Johnny Eggitt)
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Photo Essay
Diana's Last Photos
Portraits from the princess' last official photo session go on display at Kensington Palace.
An official British report into the crash that killed Princess Diana concluded that a U.S. intelligence agency was bugging Diana's phone without the approval of its British counterpart on the night of her death, according to British newspaper reports.
A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was filed with the NSA in 1998, asking for any files the agency had on her, the official tells Martin. The response acknowledged that the NSA had files on her. However, the NSA will say it had files on her not because she was being monitored, but because her name was mentioned by other people in conversations that were being monitored.
British newspaper reports say 39 classified transcripts held by an unspecified U.S. agency contain no new information about how the princess died.
CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar says it's long been rumored that Princess Diana's work as an anti-land mine campaigner brought her to the attention of the CIA, and it's been widely reported that British authorities were monitoring her closely.
Crispin Black, a former U.K. government intelligence analyst, told CBS News there are two possible motives for the U.S. government to have interest in monitoring Diana.
The first is a simple request from the British government to keep tabs on a former member of the royal family who was stripped of her official security detail, but who they still felt obligated to keep safe.Photos: Remembering Diana
Why Would The U.S. Bug A Princess?
"Most likely we asked the Americans, 'Look, while she is traveling in America or while she is traveling in parts of the world where our electronic reach doesn't get to, could you keep an eye on her?' And if that is the case, that's interesting but not sinister," Black said.
On the other hand, he pointed out that the contacts in the world of international arms dealing, which Diana may have made in her campaign against land mines, or her research into a formerly legal weapon used by the Pentagon, could have been impetus for surveillance by U.S. agencies — with or without British consent.
Black said if the United States was, in fact, monitoring Diana's conversations without consent from a sister agency in Britain, it "will cause a bit of a spat, not a huge one, but perhaps discussions behind closed doors in Washington."
He added that the British government's response will be a bit more dramatic if it's discovered the U.S. was spying on Diana on U.K. soil.
It isn't know which U.S. agency carried out the alleged phone tapping in France, but Black said that across the American intelligence apparatus, "more than 1,000 pages" are held on the late princess.
But now, the reports of monitoring may become a diplomatic embarrassment, MacVicar reports. With both the British and the French likely to ask what the U.S. was doing and why, for conspiracists, it's given them one more reason to believe that Diana's death was not an accident.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Why Would The U.S. Bug A Princess?



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See all 75 CommentsGod bless the legacy of Princess Diana
some good stickers I found
www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable
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Maybe because the CIA plants many of the land mines? ;)
It's time to re-think the idea that the government can tap anyone without oversight because of 'the war on terrorism'.
I'm sure the right wing nuts will find nothing wrong with this stupidity and even defend it because they don't think they have anything to lose... but then again, they're not very deep thinkers... those proven dimwits stick their fingers in their ears as they sell out their own country.
After reading nonsense like this, I'm more afraid of my own government than I am of terrorists. I guess it's time to put on my tin foil hat and join the rest of the paranoids out there... we live in very scary times.
It makes me angry to think that they wasted resources monitoring Lady Di instead of terrorists such as Osama Bin Laden etc.
No wonder 9/11 happened - the CIA was probably too busy monitoring Hollywood Movie Stars who thought George Bush was an idiot.
Fear OUR Govt or take steps to ensure the regime in power is totally removed and dealt with, the recent elections were a start.
Imagine that, we SPYING on Princess Diana, there really is NO limit to the things this country will do, including illegal wiretaps on US citizens.
I hope Diana lies in peace. She most certainly is missed.
"Can British authorities tap our lines without the approval of our government?"
Rest assured that if it were discovered, the righties would consider it an outragous abomination and not a "non-story."
So I read this and I thought, "Are people blaming Bush for this?" Then I looked back at all the posts and it seems that eveyone was blaming the CIA, not Bush. So it seems that to the majority of posters here, it's wrong no matter who was in the oval office. Apparently to Jane, it's not a big deal, but if it were, we should remember that Clinton was in office. Things that make you go "hummm?"
We've always been told by our liberal MSM wolfpack that only Republicans did this......... so this story must be a lie.....or.... maybe it's some "vast right-wing" conspricacy......
"First CIA, now it's Secret Service. How can we tap European phone lines without consent? Can British authorities tap our lines without the approval of our government? Or any country for that matter?"
I recall seeing a documentary a few years ago that covered this very thing - I think it was called "Echelon: The Secret Power".
Basically, the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand are listening in on communications and sharing the information.
Some links:
http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/senate/8789/sunday1.htm
http://www.dokumentarkino.no/andre/Echelon-TheSecretPower.htm
http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/pubs/97BRglw.html
The USA even taps phones of US citizens without warrant. - they probably have the Queen's phone tapped too as a possible terrorist...
It's so telling that righties so often have to know who was involved before they can determine the moral implications of the malfeasance itself.
Second, why is Princess Di still in the news nine years after her death? Mother Theresa died the same day. Why isn't her name still in the news?
"Mother Theresa died the same day. Why isn't her name still in the news"?
Mabey she did not have any phones!
What do all you "self-rightous" liberals think of that???? Please advise.......... we need some good excuses........
My Go-d, I find posts like yours annoying. What this has to do with being a liberal is beyond me. There are noxious politicians on both sides of the aisle at any given time. Right now there happen to be more in the Bush administration's party. It will switch again like it always does. The only way to slow it down, or make it happen less frequently is with TERM LIMITS. Stop Liberal bashing for the sake of bashing and say something constructive.
When they found President Bush doing it they all wanted a rope to hang him with.
Turns out slick Billy C was doing the same dam# thing, and now our posts are annoying. Reading this thing about Diana's phones is better then a Christmas bonus!!
Because of this lack of trust, to most of the world Diana will always be considered murdered, regardless of if she was or not.
It is terrible to think that we elect these people to government and we cant trust them, nor can we trust them to tell the truth, even when they might be, but they have done it to themselves...
I would love to hear what the drivers parents have to say about his drinking habits, I have read that he was not a drinker, others say that he was not that irresponsible to drink while in charge of such an important person, let a lone to excess... we will never know and they cannot afford to let us know.
As one who loves my country, I cannot bear to say more.
"The USA even taps phones of US citizens without warrant. - they probably have the Queen's phone tapped too as a possible terrorist..."
Quiet now - otherwise your phone will be the next to be tapped.
The Clinton are the "Teflon Two for One" presidents. They have every billionaire & millionaire celebrities, corporate giants, world leaders & average people who idolize them.
Considering all of the above live for the day they are back in the White House they will deny anything that would jepordize Hillary's White House. Better blame George W. Bush - that would be easier to do.
Of course he left office with a balanced budget set in motion by the past Republican administrations. Besides he did not stick his neck out to do anything about Osama or Afganistan, what he did stick out I won't go into.
Her claim to fame was her husbands affair with a smoked skinned huzzy.
Other than that she too was a jet setting hedonist.
She traded one rich guy for another and sadly died at the hands of a drunk driver.
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