Merkel calls Obama to complain about surveillance
BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel complained to President Barack Obama yesterday after learning that US intelligence may have targeted her mobile phone, saying that would be “a serious breach of trust” if confirmed.
For its part, the White House denied that the US is listening in on Merkel’s phone calls now.
“The president assured the chancellor that the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of the chancellor,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said. “The United States greatly values our close cooperation with Germany on a broad range of shared security challenges.”
However, Carney did not specifically say that that US had never monitored or obtained Merkel’s communications.
The German government said it responded after receiving “information that the chancellor’s cellphone may be monitored” by US intelligence. It wouldn’t elaborate, but German news magazine Der Spiegel, which has published material from NSA leaker Edward Snowden, said its research triggered the response.
Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement the chancellor made clear to Obama in a phone call that “she views such practices, if the indications are confirmed … as completely unacceptable.”
Merkel said among close partners such as Germany and the US, “there must not be such surveillance of a head of government’s communication,” Seibert added. “That would be a serious breach of trust. Such practices must be stopped immediately.”
Carney, the White House spokesman, said the US is examining Germany’s concerns as part of an ongoing review of how the US gathers intelligence.
The White House has cited that review in responding to similar spying concerns from France, Brazil and other countries.
US allies knew that the Americans were spying on them, but they had no idea how much.
As details of National Security Agency spying programmes have become public, citizens, activists and politicians in countries from Latin America to Europe have lined up to express shock and outrage at the scope of Washington’s spying.
Merkel had previously raised concerns over the electronic eavesdropping issue when Obama visited Germany in June, has demanded answers from the US government and backed calls for greater European data protection. Yesterday’s statement, however, was much more sharply worded and appeared to reflect frustration over the answers provided so far by the US government.
Merkel called for US authorities to clarify the extent of surveillance in Germany and to provide answers to “questions that the German government asked months ago,” Seibert said.
Few countries have responded as angrily to US spying than Brazil. President Dilma Rousseff took the extremely rare diplomatic step of cancelling a visit to Washington where she had been scheduled to receive a full state dinner this week.
Analysts say her anger is genuine, though also politically profitable, for Rousseff faces a competitive re-election campaign next year.
David Fleischer, a political scientist at the University of Brasilia, said since the September 11 attacks Brazilian governments knew the Americans had stepped up spying efforts.
“But what the government did not know was that Dilma’s office had been hacked as well,” Fleischer said.
Information the NSA collected in Mexico appears to have largely focused on drug-fighting policies or government personnel trends. But the US agency also allegedly spied on the emails of two Mexican presidents, Enrique Pena Nieto, the incumbent, and Felipe Calderon.
The Mexican government has reacted cautiously, calling the targeting of the presidents “unacceptable.” Pena Nieto has demanded an investigation but hasn’t cancelled any visits or contacts, a strategy that Mexico’s opposition and some analysts see as weak.