Princess Diana Spied on by US During Bill Clinton Administration?

Princess Diana was spied on by United States intelligence agencies during the Bill Clinton years a new report that is set for release this week in the UK will claim.  The Observer newspaper, citing the findings of a British inquiry into Diana's death to be released later this week, said the CIA was listening in on the princess in the hours before she died in a car crash in Paris, reports NBC.

Princess Diana Spied on by US During Bill Clinton Administration?

The Observer reported that the CIA did not have British intelligence's permission to tap Diana's phone.

The 36-year-old princess, her friend Dodi Fayed, 42, and driver Henri Paul died when their Mercedes crashed inside the Pont d’Alma tunnel Aug. 31, 1997, while being followed by media photographers.

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According to 'This is London UK' American intelligence agencies were bugging Princess Diana's telephone over her relationship with a US billionaire, the Evening Standard has learned.

She was even forced to abandon a planned holiday with her sons in the US with tycoon Teddy Forstmann on advice from secret services, who passed on their concerns to their British counterparts.

Both U.S. and British intelligence then forced Diana to change her plans to stay with Mr. Forstmann in the summer of 1997, saying it was too "dangerous" to take her sons there.

Cue the conspiracy theorists.  Instead the princess took the fateful decision to take a summer break with Harrods owner Mohamed Fayed. This ultimately led to her going to Paris with his son Dodi, where they died in a car crash.

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American denial

a Homeland Security official told NBC News it is untrue that the Secret Service ever gathered intelligence information on Diana.

“The Secret Service had nothing to do with it,” the official said.

Separately, a former senior U.S. intelligence official said Diana was never targeted for intelligence gathering in any way. But, the former official said, her voice may have been picked up while others were targeted. Even so, he said that as far as he knows, there were no intercepts of her in Paris the night she died, contrary to British reports.

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Why would the United States bug Princess Diana asks ABC?
"She actually had put herself in a very high-profile political position. I think it probably would be odd if she wasn't being monitored," said Ingrid Seward, the editor in chief of Majesty Magazine.

For example, Diana was a vocal campaigner for a ban on land mines.
"Perhaps it's that link that made her of interest to outside intelligence services," said Crispin Black, a former British government intelligence analyst. "That doesn't mean it was something sinister."

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Also due in the report - a confirmation that Diana's driver that night was an agent of French intelligence and it also will confirm claims that Mr. Paul was drunk while behind the wheel in the deadly crash.