On Wednesday, WikiLeaks published two new top-secret National Security Agency briefs that detail American and British espionage conducted against German leaders as they were discussing responses to the Greek economic crisis in 2011.

The organization also published a redacted list of 69 German government telephone numbers that were targeted for snooping. That list includes Oskar Lafontaine, who served as German finance minister from 1998 to 1999, when the German government was still based in Bonn—suggesting that this kind of spying has been going on for over 15 years at least.

As with the recent documents concerning NSA spying against France, WikiLeaks did not explain how it obtained the documents. However, it did share them with Greek, French, and German-language media, which all published them simultaneously on Wednesday evening, Europe time.

The timing of the documents’ release is curious: it comes just as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras changed his position and said that his country would in fact accept a deal by Greece’s creditors over the weekend. Greece has already defaulted on loans provided by the International Monetary Fund, and the world has been watching to see whether it will go bankrupt or be kicked out of the eurozone, which could have deleterious worldwide effects.

With friends like this…

One of the documents specifically provides information between Chancellor Angela Merkel and an unnamed assistant. Assuming that the document is authentic, it would provide incontrovertible proof that the United States targeted her specifically.

Eurozone Crisis: Merkel Uncertain on Solution to Greek Problems, Would Press U.S. and UK (TS//SI-G//OC/REL TO USA, FVEY) (TS//SI-G//OC/REL TO USA, FVEY) Discussing the Greek financial crisis with her personal assistant on 11 October, German Chancellor Angela Merkel professed to be at a loss as to which option--another haircut or a transfer union--would be best for addressing the situation. (The term "haircut" refers to the losses that private investors would incur on the current net value of their Greek bond holdings.) Merkel's fear was that Athens would be unable to overcome its problems even with an additional haircut, since it would not be able to handle the remaining debt. Furthermore, she doubted that sending financial experts to Greece would be of much help in bringing the financial system there under control. Within the German cabinet, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schnaeuble [sic] alone continued to strongly back another haircut, despite Merkel's efforts to rein him in, while France and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso were seen to be in favor of a gentler approach. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was solidly opposed, with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde described as undecided on the issue. Finally, Merkel believed that action must be taken to enact a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT); doing so next year, she assessed, would be a major step toward achieving some balance in relief for banks. In that regard, the Germans thought that pressure could be brought to bear on the U.S. and British governments to help bring about an FTT. Unconventional

German leadership

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The second intelligence brief describes a German-supported plan involving the creation of a “special IMF fund into which the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) nations would pool funds for the purpose of bolstering eurozone bailout activities.” That fund was ultimately never created.

Last month, German Chief Prosecutor Harald Range said that there was insufficient evidence of criminal activity that would hold up in a German court and that the government’s inquiry would end. But, he noted, "Should there be promising new investigative leads, the investigation will resume again.”

The German government accused the United States after the German magazine Der Spiegel first broke the story in October 2013.

Neither Range’s office nor the National Security Council immediately responded to Ars’ request for comment.

"We do not comment on information from allegedly leaked documents," Katherine Pfaff, a State Department spokeswoman, told Ars.

Similarly, Ned Price, a spokesman with the National Security Council, told Ars last week that his agency would not "comment on specific intelligence allegations."

"As a general matter, we do not conduct any foreign intelligence surveillance activities unless there is a specific and validated national security purpose," he wrote by e-mail. "This applies to ordinary citizens and world leaders alike."