Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

17
1 The Edward Snowden revelations and their impact on U.S.-EU relations through a crisis communication lens Katalin Jakucs Crisis Communication The George Washington University April 2014 I. Introduction “[T]he communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk - regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing” 1 could one read in the headlines of The Guardian on 5 th of June 2013. The day after, the same newspaper revealed information about the so-called Prism program that allows the NSA “to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats”. 2 This was the beginning of a prominent crisis that immediately put the U.S in the spotlight with many demanding answers on these spying allegations leaked to the press by former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden. Since then, many other documents have been disclosed to the media that revealed information on NSA practices such as the Agency collecting information not only on US but also on foreign citizens, spying on European countries and EU premises and monitoring the phone calls of many world leaders. The crisis thus has many dimensions; however, this paper will only focus on the allegations affecting EU-U.S. relations. It will assess how the President of the United States replied to this crisis (crisis communication) and will evaluate the steps he made to regain the trust of his long-standing European allies (crisis management). 1 Glenn Greenwald. “NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily”. The Guardian. June 5, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order (accessed: 04/06/2014) 2 Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill. “NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others”. The Guardian, June 6, 2014 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data (accessed: 04/08/2014)

description

The Snowden revelations and their impact on EU-US relations through a crisis communication lens

Transcript of Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

Page 1: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

1

The Edward Snowden revelations and their impact on U.S.-EU relations through

a crisis communication lens

Katalin Jakucs

Crisis Communication

The George Washington University

April 2014

I. Introduction

“[T]he communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected

indiscriminately and in bulk - regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing” 1

could one read in the headlines of The Guardian on 5th

of June 2013. The day after, the same

newspaper revealed information about the so-called Prism program that allows the NSA “to

collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats”.2

This was the beginning of a prominent crisis that immediately put the U.S in the spotlight

with many demanding answers on these spying allegations leaked to the press by former NSA

contractor, Edward Snowden.

Since then, many other documents have been disclosed to the media that revealed

information on NSA practices such as the Agency collecting information not only on US but

also on foreign citizens, spying on European countries and EU premises and monitoring the

phone calls of many world leaders. The crisis thus has many dimensions; however, this paper

will only focus on the allegations affecting EU-U.S. relations. It will assess how the President

of the United States replied to this crisis (crisis communication) and will evaluate the steps he

made to regain the trust of his long-standing European allies (crisis management).

1 Glenn Greenwald. “NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily”. The Guardian. June

5, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order (accessed:

04/06/2014) 2 Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill. “NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and

others”. The Guardian, June 6, 2014 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data

(accessed: 04/08/2014)

Page 2: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

2

Before entering into the details, one has to admit that the unique communication

challenge of this case lies in the fact that the U.S government does not know the exact number

and the content of the documents Edward Snowden took from the NSA and when and how

many of them will be leaked to the press. Therefore, the US could not comply with one of the

golden rules of crisis communication according to which you should always be the one

breaking the bad news in order to avoid being in a defensive position.

II. The crisis

The revelations about the U.S. intelligence agency‟s surveillance operations soon

raised concern on the other side of the Atlantic. From the general public to top politicians,

everyone started to raise the question whether Prism and other similar data collecting

programs are aimed at European citizens as well and whether the fundamental privacy rights

of EU citizens have been breached. EU officials expressed serious concern and demanded

"swift and concrete answers".3 Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Fundamental Rights

indicated that the US‟s reply could have an impact on the whole transatlantic relationship.4

The issue was raised at the EU-U.S. justice ministers' meeting in Dublin between 13-

14 June during which the parties agreed to set up a working group to determine the

implications of the surveillance programs for the European public.5 Obama himself

commented on the issue a few days later during his visit to Germany. In a joint press

conference with Chancellor Merkel, the president first reiterated his commitment to civil

liberties and privacy and expressed his confidence about an “appropriate balance” being

struck between protecting the American people and the American values and ideals. He went

3Alan Travis, Spencer Ackerman and Paul Lewis. “Europe warns US: you must respect the privacy of our

citizens”. The Guardian. June 11, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/11/europe-us-privacy

(accessed: 04/05/2014) 4 Ibid.

5 Traynor, Ian, Jones Sam and Topham Gwyn. “Prism NSA surveillance 'did not collect European data in bulk'”.

The Guardian. June 14, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/14/prism-nsa-surveillance-european-

data (accessed: 04/05/2014)

Page 3: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

3

on by saying that nobody was listening to the conversations or rifling through the emails of

ordinary citizens being it German, French, American or anybody else. Finally, he promised to

take further actions and look into these programs.6 This was, from a crisis communication

point of view, a good speech: he proved to have understood the public‟s concern and

expressed his own commitment to privacy, promised to take further action and to report back

on his findings, and most importantly, he replied to the main concern of Europeans: nobody is

listening to your conversations.

Until this point the US managed to keep the crisis to a certain extent ‟under control‟

however, things started to seriously go wrong on June 29, when the German newspaper the

Spiegel revealed that the NSA placed bugs in the EU's diplomatic representation in

Washington, New York and Brussels and infiltrated their computer network.7 A day later the

same newspaper reported that Germany was one of the main targets of the NSA and around

half a billion telephone calls, emails and text messages were monitored in the country every

month.8 Outraged and shocked European officials demanded quick explanation from their

American counterpart.

For Washington, the issue at stake was high: many of the European countries are

historical partners of the U.S. and the EU as a whole is an extremely important strategic,

political and economic partner of Washington. Endangering relations with such an important

ally could have had serious implications for the U.S. Also, the new allegations came at a very

delicate time: just a few days before the negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and

6 Remarks by President Obama and German Chancellor Merkel in Joint Press Conference, June 19, 2013

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/19/remarks-president-obama-and-german-chancellor-

merkel-joint-press-confere (accessed: 04/04/2014) 7 Laura Poitras, Marcel Rosenbach, Fidelius Schmid and Holger, Stark. “Attacks from America: NSA Spied on

European Union Offices”. Spiegel Online. June 29, 2013.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/nsa-spied-on-european-union-offices-a-908590.html (accessed:

04/05/2014) 8 Laura Poitras, Marcel Rosenbach, Fidelius Schmid and Holger, Stark. “Partner and Target: NSA Snoops on

500 Million German Data Connections”. Spiegel Online. June 30, 2013.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/nsa-spies-on-500-million-german-data-connections-a-908648.html

(accessed: 04/05/2014)

Page 4: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

4

Investment Partnership (TTIP) - an agreement which is estimated to boost the US economy by

€90 billion - were about to start. In Europe many voices started to echo that if the allegations

were to be true, TTIP negotiations could be halted; indicating that the U.S. should take the

issue seriously.

Der Spiegel broke the story over the weekend but there was no immediate public

response from Washington. Obama, who at the time was on a trip in Africa, only addressed

the issue publicly two days later in a press conference. He said his team was still evaluating

the content of the article and once they have their reply they would communicate it to their

allies. He then offered to provide some general comments and again explained that they were

not snooping into the emails and phone calls of average citizens. So far so good. Then he went

on explaining how intelligence services work in general and said that the NSA was only

“trying to understand the world better […] from sources that aren't available through the

New York Times or NBC News".9 This however was a hardly satisfactory explanation for his

outraged European allies.

At this point in the crisis it became obvious that the two parties had strongly differing

views on the issue. The EU deemed the spying completely „unacceptable‟, „shocking‟,

„appalling‟ and something that „partners‟ don‟t do.10

Some leaders even reminded that we

were not in the Cold War anymore.11

Whereas for the US spying seemed to be sort of a

commonplace, nothing but a usual activity that every intelligence service, being it Asian,

9 Remarks by President Obama and President Kikwete of Tanzania at Joint Press Conference, July 01, 2013.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/01/remarks-president-obama-and-president-kikwete-

tanzania-joint-press-confe (accessed: 04/04/2014) 10

“World from Berlin: 'Obama Owes His Allies an Explanation'”. Spiegel Online. July 1, 2013.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/german-press-snowden-affair-and-nsa-eu-spying-revelations-a-

908723.html (accessed: 04/05/2014) 11

Raum, Tom. “Obama Defends NSA Bugging of EU Allies; Snowden Seeks Asylum in Russia”.

HighBeam, July 2, 2013 http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-34846379.html (accessed: 04/05/2014)

Page 5: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

5

European or American, do and “if that weren't the case, then there would be no use for an

intelligence service”.12

Concerning the wider issue of data protection, it looks like for Americans when it is

about privacy versus security, the latter comes first. As Obama himself admitted in his speech

of 7th

of June, “it's important to recognize that you can't have 100 percent security and also

then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience”.13

However, for Europeans security

should not come at the expense of privacy and a proportionate balance should be struck

between the two. What shocked Europeans in particular in this issue was the massive scale of

surveillance that for them could not be justified by the fight against terrorism.

Notwithstanding the opposing views, when handling a crisis it‟s crucial to understand

your audience and to address their concerns. And that‟s what Obama had to do and did to a

certain extent. He agreed to set up a joint EU-U.S. expert group to investigate the allegations

about the U.S. spying on EU offices.14

He reassured chancellor Merkel in a phone call that

"the United States takes seriously the concerns of our European allies and partners”15

. Since

the first revelations he has held several meetings with Intelligence Community leaders and

emphasized the importance of openness and transparency.16

On August 9, he called for a

high-level expert group to review the NSA‟s intelligence programs and called for increasing

oversight and more transparency and clear protections against abuse.17

12

Remarks by President Obama and President Kikwete of Tanzania at Joint Press Conference, July 01, 2013.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/01/remarks-president-obama-and-president-kikwete-

tanzania-joint-press-confe (accessed: 04/04/2014) 13

Statement by the President, Fairmont Hotel, San Jose, California, June 07, 2013

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/07/statement-president (accessed: 04/04/2014) 14

“Joint EU-US expert group to probe alleged US spying on EU officials”. WorldNews, 4 July 2013.

http://article.wn.com/view/2013/07/04/Joint_EUUS_expert_group_to_probe_alleged_US_spying_on_EU_off/

(accessed: 04/04/2014) 15

Readout of the President‟s Phone Call with Chancellor Merkel of Germany, July 03, 2013

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/03/readout-president-s-phone-call-chancellor-merkel-

germany (accessed: 04/04/2014) 16

Background on the President‟s Statement on Reforms to NSA Programs, August 09, 2013

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/09/background-president-s-statement-reforms-nsa-

programs (accessed: 04/04/2014) 17

Remarks by the President in a Press Conference, August 09, 2013

Page 6: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

6

All these steps helped smoothing the anger of European allies and sent a strong

message about their concerns being taken seriously by the U.S. In the meantime, an

unaccepted event shook the international community: Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad‟s

alleged use of chemical weapons on its own citizens. Suddenly everyone‟s attention shifted to

this issue and to the possibility of a military intervention. Therefore, partly thanks to Obama‟s

efforts and partly to this unexpected Syrian event, the buzz around the spying issue somewhat

calmed down until late October when new allegations hit the headlines: the NSA was

recording the phone calls of millions of French citizens and was even monitoring German

Chancellor Angela Merkel‟s phone. If this had turned out to be true, it would have been in

strike contrast with what the president said at the beginning of the crisis: “I'm the end user of

this kind of intelligence. And if I want to know what Chancellor Merkel is thinking, I will call

Chancellor Merkel.”18

To handle the crisis, Obama personally called the leaders of both nations and reassured

President Hollande of France that the U.S has started to review his intelligence programs in

order to find the proper balance between security and privacy concerns.19

He also talked to

Chancellor Merkel on the phone and according to the White House readout, he assured the

Chancellor that the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor her

communications.20

This was a somewhat clever answer that avoided the main question which

was not whether Merkel‟s phone is being tapped now but whether it has been in the past. This

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/09/remarks-president-press-conference (accessed:

04/04/2014) 18

Remarks by President Obama and President Kikwete of Tanzania at Joint Press Conference, July 01, 2013.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/01/remarks-president-obama-and-president-kikwete-

tanzania-joint-press-confe (accessed: 04/04/2014) 19

Readout of the President‟s Call with President Hollande of France, October 21, 2013.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/10/21/readout-president-s-call-president-hollande-france

(accessed: 04/04/2014) 20

Readout of the President‟s Phone Call with Chancellor Merkel of Germany, October 26, 2013.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/10/23/readout-president-s-phone-call-chancellor-merkel-

germany (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Page 7: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

7

reply however was not enough for the outraged and shocked European press and public who

continued to pose the question about whether such activity has been done in the past.

Europe was still digesting the news about the NSA spying on one of its most eminent

political figure when new allegations revealed in December that top EU officials were also

targeted by the NSA including Joaquin Almunia, European commissioner for competition

policy.21

These new allegations again were deemed unacceptable in Europe and created heavy

criticism toward the U.S. In the wake of these revelations, Obama suggested, when speaking

at a press conference in the White House, that the U.S. intelligence‟s surveillance methods

may be reviewed.22

"There are ways we can do it potentially, that gives people greater

assurance that there are checks and balances, that there is sufficient oversight, sufficient

transparency"23

he said. This was however hardly enough to calm down the European

partners who already heard enough promises and were angrily awaiting real actions.

When communicating during a crisis, what you have to do is to go out there from the

very beginning, signal that you take the issue seriously and promise to investigate and report

back. Obama‟s long-await report finally came on January 17 when he delivered a speech on

the outcomes of the administration‟s review of the signals intelligence programs. He reiterated

the changes that the new presidential directive he had just approved would bring to the way

intelligence operates home and abroad and dedicated a part of his speech to address the

concerns of his allies abroad. He ordered a transition to end the Section 215 bulk metadata

program as it currently exists, he acknowledged that the U.S. as a global leader needs to

balance security and privacy requirements to maintain the trust of foreign leaders, he

reassured that the United States was not spying on ordinary people who don‟t threaten their

21

James Ball and Nick Hopkins. “GCHQ and NSA targeted charities, Germans, Israeli PM and EU chief”. The

Guardian. December 20, 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/20/gchq-targeted-aid-agencies-

german-government-eu-commissioner (accessed: 04/04/2014) 22

“Obama: NSA Spying Sweeps May Be Reviewed”. Sky News. December 21, 2013.

http://news.sky.com/story/1185576/obama-nsa-spying-sweeps-may-be-reviewed (accessed: 04/05/2014). 23

Ibid.

Page 8: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

8

national security, and promised to “pick up the phone and call” rather than to turn to

surveillance when he wants to know what the leaders of his close friends and allies think

about an issue. As he said in his speech he has “taken the unprecedented step of extending

certain protections that we have for the American people to people overseas”24

. Finally, to

make sure that these reforms will be properly followed through he also announced some

important changes to how the government is organized.

Obama‟s speech received a mixed response in Europe. Some felt that European

concerns have not been addressed and that the measures he introduced do not go far enough,

while others welcomed the initiative and expressed hope for future actions. Notwithstanding

its ambivalent reception, this speech was a turning point in the crisis. The bottom has been hit,

EU-U.S. relations hasn‟t been so tense for quite some time as since the beginning of the crisis,

but with this speech a new phase has started. The initial anger, shock and indignation was

over and from this point on the U.S. could start working on getting out of the crisis and on

slowly but surely reestablishing the trust of its European allies.

What signals that a new phase has started is that at the beginning of this year, Obama

personally met with many European leaders who all gave the impression that they were

willing to put the NSA crisis behind and to endeavor towards cooperation. In January,

president Rajoy of Spain when asked about the issue during his visit to Obama replied that his

government deemed the explanations given about the NSA “satisfactory”.25

In February,

French president François Hollande also sent a similar message during a joint press

conference with Obama when he highlighted that the Snowden issue “was in the past” and

24

Remarks by the President on Review of Signals Intelligence, January 17, 2014

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/17/remarks-president-review-signals-intelligence

(accessed: 04/04/2014) 25

Remarks by President Obama and President Rajoy of Spain After Bilateral Meeting, January 13, 2014.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/13/remarks-president-obama-and-president-rajoy-spain-

after-bilateral-meetin (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Page 9: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

9

that “mutual trust has been restored”.26

In March, Obama made a trip to Europe and met his

Italian and Dutch counterpart who also reaffirmed their readiness to move forward. During

the EU-US Summit the leaders of the European Union and the United States also agreed to

reaffirm their strong partnership.27

Apart from Obama‟s and his administration‟s efforts what probably contributed to re-

establishing relations and move forward was the necessity to cooperate on a new crisis:

Crimea. In the first months of 2014, Obama had many phone calls with his European

counterparts but the conversations were not dominated by data privacy issues any more but

the attention centered on the crisis in Ukraine. Just as Fink says in his Crisis Communication

book, sometimes what helps you out of a crisis is the outbreak of another crisis. It seems like

this is valid for the NSA case; the European leaders‟ attention has been indeed shifted to the

Ukrainian issue during the last few months. However, one should not forget that Edward

Snowden still possesses many classified documents containing NSA secrets and as no one

knows when and what he will reveal, it would be too confident to say that the crisis is over.

III. Conclusion

After going through the statements, press releases, actions and reactions of Obama, we

can say that he handled the crisis fairly well. At the beginning, there were some flaws in his

communication: he did not realize the importance of data protection for Europeans and how

seriously his allies took the allegations. When the first articles were revealed, he did not reply

immediately which gave the possibility to European leaders and publics to get all their

information from the press and form on opinion based on that. Therefore, when he addressed

26

Press Conference by President Obama and President Hollande of France February 11, 2014.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/02/11/press-conference-president-obama-and-president-

hollande-france (accessed: 04/04/2014) 27

EU-US Summit: Joint Statement, March 26, 2014.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/26/eu-us-summit-joint-statement (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Page 10: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

10

the issue, Europeans were already convinced that they were being watched and that their e-

mails and phone calls were being monitored. And in a crisis, as Fink highlights, “perception

always trumps reality”.28

Therefore, even if ordinary citizens were not being watched, that

was the general perception and that‟s what Obama had to address.

When the allegations about the US spying on EU premises broke, Obama made the

same mistake. Whereas his European allies were infuriated by the news, Obama, instead of

giving an immediate reply, talked about the issue only two days later when a question was

address to him during a press conference. He should have made a short press statement the

day the allegations broke to show his commitment to his allies and to reassure them that

answers will be given once his team had a chance to properly go through the article. This

would have helped to ease tension and would have sent a message that Obama understands

and takes the concerns of Europe seriously.

However, after the initial inertia, it did not take him too much time to understand his

audience and recognize the issue at stake. Consequently, his rhetoric has significantly

changed over time: while at the beginning of the crisis he firmly asserted that a right balance

was struck between security and privacy he later admitted that the way information was

gathered might have been to “too intrusive”29

. He also took different measures to handle the

crisis: he set up an expert group to review the NSA programs, announced changes to the way

intelligence operates and made sure to reiterate as many times as possible that no one was

listening to the phone calls of ordinary citizens.

When assessing how he handled the crisis, one has to admit that the President was in a

very difficult situation as he also had to provide answers to domestic audiences. He had to

28

Steven Fink. “Crisis Communications”. Mc Graw Hill Education. 2013. p.30. 29

Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Reinfeldt of Sweden in Joint Press Conference, September

04, 2013 http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/09/04/remarks-president-obama-and-prime-minister-

reinfeldt-sweden-joint-press- (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Page 11: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

11

address the concerns of American citizens as well for whom security might weight more than

privacy and he also had to stand up for his intelligence agency. He could not have just

apologized to his allies and admitted that the US intelligence went too far. He had to balance

the concerns of his own citizens and those of his allies thus; his hands were to a certain extent

tied. That‟s why he will probably never manage to set up as strong data and privacy protection

measures as Europeans would want him to. Also, another difficulty of this case is that he did

not know when and what would Snowden leak to the press and therefore he had no control

over the message and had to always find himself in a defensive position and to react to

information as it was framed by the press.

Notwithstanding these difficulties, his efforts proved to be sufficient enough to gain

back the trust of European leaders: the TTIP negotiations were not halted and his visit to

Europe in March suggests that the relationship has been restored. He was though less

successful in convincing one of his key audiences: the European Parliament (EP) and the

European public that this institution represents. Obama‟s January speech and the reforms he

announced were not convincing enough for the EP that passed a resolution on March 12,

2014, that calls for the suspension of the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework and calls on the

Parliament to withhold its consent to the final TTIP deal. This shows that even if it looks like

the worst part of the crisis is over, there is still a long way to go until confidence will be fully

restored. Just as the president himself admitted: winning back the trust not just of

governments but, more importantly, of ordinary citizens is not going to happen overnight.30

30

Press Conference with President Obama and Prime Minister Rutte of the Netherlands, March 25, 2014.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/25/press-conference-president-obama-and-prime-minister-

rutte-netherlands (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Page 12: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

12

Bibliography

Articles:

Duggan, Oliver. “President Obama to hold crisis talks with Germany to settle claims

that US spied of EU allies”. July 4, 2013.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/president-obama-to-hold-crisis-talks-with-

germany-to-settle-claims-that-us-spied-of-eu-allies-8687264.html (accessed:

04/05/2014).

Egger, Pepe. “Further revelations of US spying on German government make

parliamentary investigation, delay in FTA negotiations likely”. IHS Global Insight

Daily Analysis. October 28, 2013. (accessed: 04/05/2014).

“EU alarmed over alleged US bugging of its offices”. July 1, 2013. Borenopost online.

http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/07/01/eu-alarmed-over-alleged-us-bugging-of-its-

offices/ (accessed: 04/05/2014).

“EU/US: Americans in Brussels to explain PRISM surveillance”. HighBeam, July 23,

2013. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-337511761.html (accessed: 04/05/2014).

Fidler, Stephen, Robinson, Frances and Stevens, Laura. “EU up in arms over alleged

spying by NSA; Accusations of bugging, hacking are based on Snowden leaks”. July 1,

2013. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/eu-up-in-arms-over-alleged-spying-by-nsa-

2013-07-01 (accessed: 04/05/2014).

Gellman, Barton and Poitras, Laura. “U.S. mines Internet firms' data, documents

show”. The Washington Post, June 7, 2013.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from-nine-

us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845-

d970ccb04497_story.html (accessed: 04/08/2014).

Glenn Greenwald. “NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers

daily”. The Guardian. June 5, 2013.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-

order (accessed: 04/06/2014).

Graef, Aileen. “Edward Snowden to EU: NSA is spying on all of Europe”. United

Press International. March 07, 2014. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-

News/2014/03/07/Edward-Snowden-to-EU-NSA-is-spying-on-all-of-

Europe/6141394214687/ (accessed: 04/05/2014).

Greenwald, Glenn and MacAskill, Ewen. “NSA Prism program taps in to user data of

Apple, Google and others”. The Guardian, June 6, 2014.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data (accessed:

04/08/2014).

Page 13: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

13

Henderson, Nicole. “Edward Snowden Provides Testimony to European Parliament as

Part of Mass Surveillance Inquiry”. Thewir.com. March 07, 2014.

http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/edward-snowden-provides-testimony-

european-parliament-part-mass-surveillance-inquiry (accessed: 04/05/2014).

“MEPs back 'immediate suspension' of 'safe harbour' data transfers and threaten to veto

US trade deal”. Out.Law.com. February 14, 2014. http://www.out-

law.com/articles/2014/february/meps-back-immediate-suspension-of-safe-harbour-

data-transfers-and-threaten-to-veto-us-trade-deal/ (accessed: 04/05/2014).

“New NSA spy claims hit Germany as EU calls on Washington for explanations”.

Euronews. June 30, 2013. http://www.euronews.com/2013/06/30/new-nsa-spy-claims-

hit-germany-as-eu-calls-on-washington-for-explanations/ (accessed: 04/05/2014).

“Obama: NSA Spying Sweeps May Be Reviewed”. Sky News. December 21, 2013.

http://news.sky.com/story/1185576/obama-nsa-spying-sweeps-may-be-reviewed

(accessed: 04/05/2014).

Passingham, Michael. “PRISM: NSA accused of hacking EU computers and bugging

buildings”. Incisive Financial Publishing Limited. July 1, 2013. (accessed:

04/05/2014).

Poitras, Laura, Rosenbach, Marcel, Schmid, Fidelius and Stark, Holger. “Attacks from

America: NSA Spied on European Union Offices”. Spiegel Online. June 29, 2013.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/nsa-spied-on-european-union-offices-a-

908590.html (accessed: 04/05/2014).

Poitras, Laura, Rosenbach, Marcel and Stark, Holger. “Ally and Target: US

Intelligence Watches Germany Closely”. Spiegel. August 12, 2013.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/germany-is-a-both-a-partner-to-and-a-target-

of-nsa-surveillance-a-916029.html (accessed: 04/05/2014).

Rachman, Gideon. “Obama and the crumbling of a liberal fantasy hero”. The Financial

Times. July 2, 2013. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1627b9a4-e234-11e2-87ec-

00144feabdc0.html#axzz2yXMGbyKq (accessed: 04/05/2014).

Raum, Tom. “Obama Defends NSA Bugging of EU Allies; Snowden Seeks Asylum in

Russia”. HighBeam, July 2, 2013. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-34846379.html

(accessed: 04/05/2014).

Roberts, Dan and Ackerman, Spencer. “Anger swells after NSA phone records court

order revelations”. The Guardian, June 6, 2013.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/obama-administration-nsa-verizon-

records (accessed: 04/05/2014).

Roberts, Dan and Ackerman, Spencer. “Obama defiant over NSA revelations ahead of

summit with Chinese premier”. The Guardian, June 7, 2013.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/07/obama-nsa-revelations-chinese-

summit (accessed: 04/05/2014).

Page 14: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

14

S. Rajagopalan. “US bugged EU offices, tapped German phones”. July 1, 2013.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/world/us-bugged-eu-offices-tapped-german-phones.html

(accessed: 04/05/2014).

“Schulz on alleged bugging of EU office by the US authorities”. Press Release.

Brussels, June 29, 2013. European Parliament. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/the-

president/en/press/press_release_speeches/press_release/2013/2013-june/html/schulz-

on-alleged-bugging-of-eu-office-by-the-us-authorities (accessed: 04/05/2014).

“Snooping on good friends”. The Age, July 2, 2013, John Fairfax Holdings

Limited. www.theage.com.au (accessed: 04/05/2014).

“The NSA files”. The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/world/the-nsa-files

(accessed: 04/08/2014).

Toryy, Harriet, Schechner, Sam. “Spy Claims Send Chill Ahead of Trade Talks. France

and Germany Demand Clarity on Claims U.S. Spied on EU”. The Wall Street Journal.

July 1, 2013.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB100014241278873244361045785791524002463

08 (accessed: 04/05/2014).

Travis, Alan, Ackerman, Spencer and Lewis, Paul. “Europe warns US: you must

respect the privacy of our citizens”. The Guardian, June 11, 2013.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/11/europe-us-privacy (accessed:

04/05/2014).

Travis, Alan, Osborne, Louise and Davies, Lizzy. “World reaction: Europe's leaders

seek answers on US collection of data from EU”. The Guardian. June 11, 2013.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/10/european-reaction-us-surveillance-

revelations (accessed: 04/05/2014).

Traynor, Ian, Jones Sam and Topham Gwyn. “Prism NSA surveillance 'did not collect

European data in bulk'”. The Guardian. June 14, 2013.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/14/prism-nsa-surveillance-european-data

(accessed: 04/05/2014).

Watt, Nicholas. “Prism scandal: European Commission to seek privacy guarantees

from US”. The Guardian. June 11, 2013.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/10/prism-european-commissions-privacy-

guarantees (accessed: 04/05/2014).

“World from Berlin: 'Obama Owes His Allies an Explanation'”. Spiegel Online. July 1,

2013. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/german-press-snowden-affair-and-nsa-

eu-spying-revelations-a-908723.html (accessed: 04/05/2014).

Book:

Steven Fink. “Crisis Communications”. Mc Graw Hill Education. 2013.

Page 15: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

15

The White House, Statements and Releases:

Statement by the President, Fairmont Hotel, San Jose, California, June 07, 2013.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/07/statement-president

(accessed: 04/04/2014)

Readout of the President‟s Phone Call with Chancellor Merkel of Germany, July 03,

2013.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/03/readout-president-s-phone-

call-chancellor-merkel-germany (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Background on the President‟s Statement on Reforms to NSA Programs, August 09,

2013.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/09/background-president-s-

statement-reforms-nsa-programs (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Statement by the Press Secretary on the Review Group on Intelligence and

Communications Technology, August 27, 2013.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/27/statement-press-secretary-

review-group-intelligence-and-communications-t (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Readout of the President‟s Call with President Hollande of France, October 21, 2013.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/10/21/readout-president-s-call-

president-hollande-france (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Readout of Vice President Biden‟s Meeting with Italian Senate President Pietro

Grasso October 25, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-

office/2013/10/25/readout-vice-president-biden-s-meeting-italian-senate-president-

pietro-g (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Readout of the President‟s Phone Call with Chancellor Merkel of Germany, October

26, 2013.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/10/23/readout-president-s-phone-

call-chancellor-merkel-germany (accessed: 04/04/2014)

President Obama‟s Meeting with the Review Group on Intelligence and

Communications Technologies, December 18, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-

press-office/2013/10/25/readout-vice-president-biden-s-meeting-italian-senate-

president-pietro-g (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Presidential Policy Directive -- Signals Intelligence Activities, January 17, 2014.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/17/presidential-policy-directive-

signals-intelligence-activities (accessed: 04/04/2014)

FACT SHEET: Review of U.S. Signals Intelligence, January 17, 2014.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/17/fact-sheet-review-us-signals-

intelligence (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Page 16: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

16

Press Conference by President Obama and President Hollande of France February 11,

2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/02/11/press-conference-

president-obama-and-president-hollande-france (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Press Conference with President Obama and Prime Minister Rutte of the Netherlands,

March 25, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/25/press-

conference-president-obama-and-prime-minister-rutte-netherlands (accessed:

04/04/2014)

EU-US Summit: Joint Statement, March 26, 2014.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/26/eu-us-summit-joint-statement

(accessed: 04/04/2014)

Statement by the President on the Section 215 Bulk Metadata Program, March 27,

2014.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/27/statement-president-section-

215-bulk-metadata-program (accessed: 04/04/2014)

FACT SHEET: The Administration‟s Proposal for Ending the Section 215 Bulk

Telephony Metadata Program, March 27, 2014.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/27/fact-sheet-administration-s-

proposal-ending-section-215-bulk-telephony-m (accessed: 04/04/2014)

The White House, Speeches and Remarks:

Remarks by President Obama and German Chancellor Merkel in Joint Press

Conference, June 19, 2013. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-

office/2013/06/19/remarks-president-obama-and-german-chancellor-merkel-joint-

press-confere (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Remarks by President Obama and President Kikwete of Tanzania at Joint Press

Conference, July 01, 2013. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-

office/2013/07/01/remarks-president-obama-and-president-kikwete-tanzania-joint-

press-confe (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Remarks by the President in a Press Conference, August 09, 2013.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/09/remarks-president-press-

conference (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Reinfeldt of Sweden in Joint Press

Conference, September 04, 2013. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-

office/2013/09/04/remarks-president-obama-and-prime-minister-reinfeldt-sweden-

joint-press- (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Remarks by President Obama and President Hollande of France after Bilateral

Meeting, September 06, 2013.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/09/06/remarks-president-obama-

and-president-hollande-france-after-bilateral-me (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Page 17: Katalin jakucs - crisis communication and the snowden affair

17

Press Conference by the President, December 20, 2013.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/12/20/press-conference-president

(accessed: 04/04/2014)

Remarks by President Obama and President Rajoy of Spain After Bilateral Meeting,

January 13, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/13/remarks-

president-obama-and-president-rajoy-spain-after-bilateral-meetin (accessed:

04/04/2014)

Remarks by the President on Review of Signals Intelligence, January 17, 2014.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/17/remarks-president-review-

signals-intelligence (accessed: 04/04/2014)

President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address, January 28, 2014.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/28/president-barack-obamas-

state-union-address (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Press Conference by President Obama and President Hollande of France, February 11,

2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/02/11/press-conference-

president-obama-and-president-hollande-france (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Remarks by President Obama and President Hollande of France in Exchange of Toasts

at State Dinner February 11, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-

office/2014/02/11/remarks-president-obama-and-president-hollande-france-exchange-

toasts-st (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Remarks by President Obama and President Hollande of France at Arrival Ceremony

February 02, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/02/11/remarks-

president-obama-and-president-hollande-france-arrival-ceremony (accessed:

04/04/2014)

Press Conference by President Obama, European Council President Van Rompuy, and

European Commission President Barroso March 26, 2014.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/26/press-conference-president-

obama-european-council-president-van-rompuy-a (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Remarks by the President in Address to European Youth March 26, 2014.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/26/remarks-president-address-

european-youth (accessed: 04/04/2014)

Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Renzi of Italy in Joint Press

Conference, March 27, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-

office/2014/03/27/remarks-president-obama-and-prime-minister-renzi-italy-joint-

press-confe (accessed: 04/04/2014)