Australia Said to Play Part in N.S.A. Effort 01 Nov 2013 Australia, a close ally of the United States, has used its embassies in Asia to collect intelligence as part of the National Security Agency's global surveillance efforts, according to a document leaked by the former agency contractor Edward J. Snowden and published this week in the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel. The N.S.A. program was called Stateroom, and was operated by the Australian Defense Signals Directorate, Der Spiegel quoted the N.S.A. document as saying.