Photo Gallery Clandestine Capabilities
President Obama has tried to present himself as someone who is interested in clearing up the NSA spying scandal. He said that he knew nothing about the tapping of Merkel's cell phone -- and he even apologized to her. But how can he explain the National Intelligence Priorities Framework (NIPF)?
The NIPF is effectively the wish list that the government sends to its intelligence agencies. It determines which countries and which governments should be spied on -- and with what level of priority. The list forms the political foundation for the spying activities of all 17 US intelligence agencies. The NIPF was first drawn up in 2003 under President Bush. Since then, this list has been updated every six months. This is done by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, but only with top-level endorsement from the Oval Office. According to internal NSA documents, the list is "presidentially approved." SPIEGEL has obtained a copy of the list, dated April 2013, from the archives of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The heads of Germany's two main intelligence agencies, Hans-Georg Maassen (left) and Gerhard Schindler (right) attended a special parliamentary meeting after the government said it had information indicating Merkel's private communications were intercepted.
