The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday reported that the National Security Agency continued to eavesdrop on friendly heads of state even after President Barack Obama pledged to curtail the activity.
According to former and current US officials who spoke to the newspaper, the NSA spied on Israeli officials and members of US Congress during the Iran nuclear talks this year.
Senator Rubio, appearing on television show "Fox & Friends" ahead of a campaign event in Iowa, claimed that the full picture "might be worse," saying that he did not think the report "gets the entire story."
"Well, I want to be very careful. I'm on, a member of the [Senate] Intelligence Committee, so obviously I want to be very careful of what I say about information of this kind. Obviously people read this report, they have a right to be concerned this morning about it," he said.
"They have a right to be concerned about the fact that while some leaders around the world are no longer being targeted, one of our strongest allies in the Middle East – Israel – is," he continued. "These are all concerns, and they're legitimate."
— Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 30, 2015
However, Rubio equivocated, the latest episode illustrates "one of those complicated issues when it comes to intelligence matters."
"We have to be very careful about how we discuss it, especially since there's a press report that I don't think gets the entire story," said the GOP presidential candidate, adding that he was not defending the current administration in the White House.
"I actually think it might be worse than what some people might think, but this is an issue that we'll keep a close eye on and the role that I have in the Intelligence Committee," he said. "But, I’m not trying to be evasive, but I want to be very careful in a national broadcast like this how we discuss these sorts of issues."
After former NSA contractor Edward Snowden went public with the agency's widespread spying practices, Obama announced in January 2014 that he would curb the policy. The administration created a list of allied leaders that would be protected from eavesdropping, the Journal reported.
But privately, Obama decided to keep Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under close watch, on the grounds that surveillance of the notoriously untrustworthy US ally served a "compelling national security purpose," US officials told the Journal.
