Bill Clinton says security does not justify espionage

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, currently on a visit to Brazil, has said the United States' security need does not justify spying on allied countries.

In an interview published Monday by local daily O Globo, Clinton criticized the widespread espionage scheme Washington carried out in countries including Brazil, as revealed by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden.

The United States has no justification for the espionage on Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff and the country's state- controlled oil giant Petrobras as well as on emails and telephone calls of millions of Brazilians, he said.

"We should not be getting economic information under the pretext of security. Not with an ally," Clinton said.

He said electronic surveillance can be used to track suspects of terrorism, and in the United States, the government is only allowed to carry out surveillance to find patterns.

The content of e-mails and calls is only monitored when a person has frequent contact with suspects of terrorism, and even so, it requires a court order, he said.

Clinton admitted there had been "a lack of transparency" in explaining U.S. government policy on eavesdropping.

Clinton is in Rio for a meeting of his Clinton Global Initiative that brings together business leaders and politicians from throughout Latin America.