US intelligence kept a file on Blair when he was PM

London, Nov.25 : A former communications intercept operator has revealed that American intelligence kept a file "of personal nature" on Tony Blair while he was Prime Minister.

David Mufee Faulk told ABC News that he had seen a written file containing details of Blair's private life while working at a secret National Security Agency facility, and added that this violated an agreement between Britain and the US not to spy on each other's leaders.

According to The Times, Faulk worked at Fort Gordon, Georgia, from 2003 -2007 where his top secret clearance gave him access to an intelligence data base called "Anchory."

It was there, in 2006, that he claims he saw the file on Blair, which included personal information.

Faulk, however, did not give any details on what he had gleaned from the Blair file. Gathering information about foreign leaders is a legal and common practice of intelligence agencies around the world but under a long-standing agreement, the US and Britain had pledged "not to collect on each other," former US intelligence officials said.

The NSA works closely with its British counterpart, the GCHQ, and shares information on a regular basis.

"If it is true that we maintained a file on Blair, it would represent a huge breach of the agreement we have with the Brits," said one former CIA official.

Faulk's revelation comes just weeks after he disclosed that US intelligence had listened in to the intimate exchanges of American journalists, aid workers and soldiers by secretly monitoring their calls.

ANI