Why U.S. spies on allies? Everyone does

The spotlight must be an uncomfortable position for intelligence organisations that would far prefer to remain in the shadows. But since Edward Snowden fled the United States in the summer of 2013, there has been an almost constant drip-feed of stories concerning the operations of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). Yet the most recent scoop -- originating from Wikileaks -- has shown that we would do well to consider these kinds of "r...