Ex-CIA Chief Cheers UK’s ‘Tolerance’ for Spying

© AP Photo / Carolyn Kasterhe The CIA seal is seen displayed before President Barack Obama speaks at the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Va., Wednesday, April 13, 2016
he The CIA seal is seen displayed before President Barack Obama speaks at the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Va., Wednesday, April 13, 2016 - Sputnik International
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The United Kingdom’s population is not as adamant in demanding more transparency from domestic intelligence services unlike privacy activists in the United States, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Agency (NSA) director Michael Hayden said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Snowden files revealed that the NSA had worked closely with Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Verizon and other major telecom and tech firms to spy on individuals and governments.

"You as a population are far more tolerant of aggressive action on the part of your intelligence services than we are in the United States," Hayden said at Hay Festival in Wales, as quoted by The Guardian daily late Sunday, and referring to Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).

he The CIA seal is seen displayed before President Barack Obama speaks at the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Va., Wednesday, April 13, 2016 - Sputnik International
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Addressing the fallout from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s 2013 leaks of classified intelligence shedding light on US and UK surveillance, Hayden stressed that the revelations have "hit the beach" in his country but have "not hit the beach here in Great Britain."

"With regard to the 21st-century definition of reasonable privacy, [Facebook owner] Mark Zuckerberg is probably going to have a greater influence on that than your or my government because of the rules we will embed inside his Facebook applications," Hayden added.

Hayden served as the director of the CIA from 2006 to 2009 and was director of the NSA from 1999 until 2005. He was sworn in as CIA director 10 years ago to date on May 30, 2006.

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