In 1960 Francis Gary Powers, piloting a U2 plane over the Soviet Union, was shot down by a Russian missile. The initial U.S. story was that Powers was flying a weather-monitoring plane, although that story was obviously bogus, since the U.S.S.R. had in its possession the U2 plane with all its spy gear intact.
President Eisenhower, very honestly and very naively, admitted the plane was ours and admitted we were spying.
Let’s suppose you are a Russian official, and the U.S. sticks to the weather plane story. You say, “That is obviously a lie,” but you don’t have to go much beyond that, since the U.S. denies responsibility for the plane. However, once the President states the plane is a spy plane, you are forced to react. Eisenhower’s admission created a major setback U.S.-Soviet relations.
Now let’s look at the NSA phone taps on the French and German leaders, among our closest allies. Evidently these taps started in 2002.
President Obama claims he didn’t know about the taps. I have two reactions. First, knowing what little I know of the NSA, but knowing a great deal of how governments operate, I think it is quite possible that neither George W. Bush nor President Obama did know. The NSA strikes me as kind of a rogue agency that is out of control.
Second, even if Bush and Obama did know, it is important to deny they knew. That gives the French and Germans a way out. They can be angry (and should be), but they don’t need to create an official crisis. And President Obama can say, “I didn’t know, but now that I do, it won’t happen again.”
Am I really advocating lying? If it prevents a diplomatic crisis and permits all parties to avoid a nasty situation, of course I am.
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