Canada Let NSA Spy on G20: New Leak

The Canadian government gave the NSA the go-ahead to conduct widespread spying at the G8 and G20 summits there in 2010, according to the latest document from Edward Snowden's seemingly inexhaustible cache. The top secret document, which was leaked to CBC News, reveals that the NSA used the US' Ottawa embassy as a command post during the six-day event, and that its activities were "closely coordinated with the Canadian partner."

The agency spied on secure meeting sites, in part to protect them against terrorist threats, but also to advance "US policy goals" and provide "support to policymakers." It's unclear who precisely wound up on the business end of that spying, but one Canadian law professor says the Communications Security Establishment Canada might have broken the law by allowing it. Canadian law forbids CSEC from targeting anyone on Canadian soil without a warrant, including visiting world leaders. (More Canada stories.)