According to Brazil’s Globo TV network, the U.S. National Security Agency has spied on Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, The Washington Post reports.
The report, which cites documents leaked by whistle-blower Edward Snowden, seems to contradict Obama administration claims that the NSA’s mass surveillance capabilities have been directed only at thwarting terrorists and fighting transnational criminals.
The documents, which were provided to the Brazilian station by journalist Glenn Greenwald, reportedly show Petrobras mentioned along with Google and the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), in a training presentation on how to penetrate private computer networks.
The revelations could create additional headaches for the U.S., which has been strongly critical of China for allegedly engaging in industrial espionage. “What we do not do, as we have said many times, is use our foreign intelligence capabilities to steal the trade secrets of foreign companies,” director of U.S. National Intelligence James Clapper said in a statement.