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U.S. Disputes Reports of Wiretapping in France and Germany Obama Tells Merkel That U.S. Is Not Tapping Her Phone
(35 minutes later)
PARIS — American officials on Wednesday disputed reports in European publications that the United States had tapped the personal cellphone of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and had recorded data from millions of phone calls in France. BERLIN — The German government said Wednesday that it had received information that the cellphone of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany was under surveillance by United States intelligence services and that she had called President Obama to make clear that such practices – if confirmed – were “completely unacceptable.”
Ms. Merkel and President Obama spoke by telephone about the allegations concerning her cellphone, the White House said in a statement, and Mr. Obama assured her that the United States “is not monitoring and will not monitor” her communications. Steffen Seibert, the chancellor’s spokesman, quoted her as telling Mr. Obama: “Between close friends and partners, which the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States of America have been for decades, there should be no such surveillance of the communications of a head of government.”
The chancellor’s office did not say how it had come to learn of the allegations, but The Associated Press reported that they arose from research by Der Spiegel, a German newsmagazine that has published several articles about American eavesdropping on European diplomats and officials. Ms. Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Siebert, said tapping the chancellor’s phone would be “a serious breach of trust” and “completely unacceptable.” He further quoted her as telling him: “That would be a grave breach of trust. Such practices must cease immediately.”
James R. Clapper, the United States director of national intelligence, said late on Tuesday that reports in a French newspaper that American spies recorded data from 70 million phone calls in France in a single 30-day period were “misleading.” It was the second time in three days that allegations of American government surveillance threatened to cloud relations between Washington and close European allies. The consternation in Berlin followed a furor in France over reports in the Le Monde newspaper that American intelligence had collected data on 70 million communications by ordinary French people in a 30-day period late last year and into January.
In recent days, the French government has vehemently criticized the United States for carrying out extensive electronic eavesdropping within France, adding to discontent expressed by other American allies, including Brazil and Mexico, that have been targets of the National Security Agency’s surveillance program. The White House issued a statement confirming that President Obama and Ms. Merkel had spoken “regarding allegations that the U.S. National Security Agency intercepted the communications of the German Chancellor. The President assured the Chancellor that the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of Chancellor Merkel.”
On Monday, the French Foreign Ministry summoned the American ambassador, Charles H. Rivkin, after Le Monde reported that the N.S.A. had collected up to 70 million digital communications inside France in a single month, from Dec. 10, 2012, to Jan. 8, 2013. The statement did not address whether those communications had been intercepted in the past.
In a statement published on the Web site of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Wednesday, Mr. Clapper disputed the newspaper’s reporting, saying recent articles “contain inaccurate and misleading information regarding U.S. foreign intelligence activities.” The statement was reported by The Associated Press late Tuesday. Also on Wednesday, James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence in the United States, disputed some details of Le Monde’s reports as misleading.
“The allegation that the National Security Agency collected more than 70 million ‘recordings of French citizens’ telephone data’ is false,” Mr. Clapper said. The vehement French criticism of the United States – Ambassador Charles H. Rivkin was summoned on Monday to the French foreign ministry -- followed on unhappiness expressed by Germany in June and since then by Brazil and Mexico, about having been targeted by the National Security Agency’s surveillance program. Brazil’s president Dilma Roussef canceled a visit to the United States over the issue.
Mr. Clapper did not address additional allegations in Le Monde that the National Security Agency had monitored “French diplomatic interests” at the United Nations and in Washington. The newspaper reported that confidential information garnered by the N.S.A. from eavesdropping had played a “big role” in securing a vote at the United Nations on June 9, 2010, in favor of a resolution imposing sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. Like earlier allegations of massive surveillance in Germany, the disclosures in France were based on documents provided by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor who has been charged in the United States with espionage and theft. His leaks of N.S.A. materials have pointed an uncomfortable spotlight on the scope of American spying at home and abroad. Mr. Snowden, who has been granted asylum in Russia, has been both denounced as a traitor and lauded as a hero for exposing the perils of government spying on private citizens in the digital age.
The disclosures in France were based on documents provided by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor who has been charged in the United States with espionage and theft. His leaks of N.S.A. materials have pointed an uncomfortable spotlight on the scope of American spying at home and abroad. He has since been both lambasted as a traitor and lauded as a hero for exposing the perils of government spying on private citizens in the digital age. The statement from Mr. Seibert did not make clear what information the German government had received. Der Spiegel news magazine said on its Web site that it had made an inquiry to the government in the course of routine research, and said that inquiry had triggered the reaction. “Apparently, after an examination by the Federal Intelligence Service and the Federal Office for Security in Information Technology the government found sufficient plausible grounds to confront the U.S. government,” the magazine said.
President François Hollande of France expressed “extreme reprobation” following the revelations of the surveillance of French citizens. In France, President François Hollande expressed “extreme reprobation” following the revelations of surveillance of French citizens. The a White House official said President Obama called Mr. Hollande on Monday and acknowledged that some of the reports had raised “legitimate questions for our friends and allies.”
Mr. Obama’s conversation with Ms. Merkel was the second time this week that the president found himself addressing the surveillance issue with an angry European ally. The White House said President Obama called Mr. Hollande on Monday about the allegations in Le Monde, and acknowledged that some of the reports had raised “legitimate questions for our friends and allies.” “The president and President Hollande discussed recent disclosures in the press — some of which have distorted our activities, and some of which raise legitimate questions for our friends and allies about how these capabilities are employed,” the White House said in a statement. “The president made clear that the United States has begun to review the way that we gather intelligence, so that we properly balance the legitimate security concerns of our citizens and allies with the privacy concerns that all people share. The two presidents agreed that we should continue to discuss these issues in diplomatic channels.”
“The president and President Hollande discussed recent disclosures in the press — some of which have distorted our activities, and some of which raise legitimate questions for our friends and allies about how these capabilities are employed,” the White House said in a statement. In late June, following reports in the Der Spiegel that the United States had been spying on the European Union and that the N.S.A. had tapped its offices in Washington, Brussels and the United Nations, European politicians expressed anger and demanded an explanation.
“The president made clear that the United States has begun to review the way that we gather intelligence, so that we properly balance the legitimate security concerns of our citizens and allies with the privacy concerns that all people share. The two presidents agreed that we should continue to discuss these issues in diplomatic channels.” The White House statement issued on Wednesday stressed that “the United States greatly values our close cooperation with Germany on a broad range of shared security challenges. As the President has said, the United States is reviewing the way that we gather intelligence to ensure that we properly balance the security concerns of our citizens and allies with the privacy concerns that all people share.”
In late June, following reports in Der Spiegel that the United States was spying on the European Union and that the N.S.A. had tapped its offices in Washington, Brussels and the United Nations, European politicians expressed anger and demanded an explanation. The leaders agreed “to intensify further the cooperation between our intelligence services with the goal of protecting the security of both countries and of our partners, as well as protecting the privacy of our citizens,” it added.

Dan Bilefsky reported from Paris, and Alison Smale from Berlin.

The need to issue two statements in 48 hours over relations with close trans-Atlantic allies underscored the damage wrought by the documents Mr. Snowden says he collected while working for American intelligence agencies.
In a statement published on the Web site of the Office of the director of National Intelligence on Wednesday, Mr. Clapper raised objections to Le Monde’s reporting, saying recent articles “contain inaccurate and misleading information regarding U.S. foreign intelligence activities.”
In the statement, first reported by The Associated Press late Tuesday, Mr. Clapper did not address additional allegations in Le Monde that the N.S.A. had monitored “French diplomatic interests” at the United Nations and in Washington.
The newspaper reported that confidential information garnered by the N.S.A. from eavesdropping had played a “big role” in securing a vote at the United Nations on June 9, 2010, in favor of a resolution imposing sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
If indeed American intelligence was listening to Ms. Merkel’s phone, or registering what calls she made and received, the trust between Berlin and Washington could be severely damaged. Since Der Spiegel’s original revelations in June, even senior officials in the German government have voiced more caution about cooperating with the United States, and wondered in private about the extent to which any information gleaned was shared with, say, business rivals of German companies. The German government said it had been assured that German laws were not broken, but the sensitivity of the issue – in a country with Nazi and Communist pasts – is hard to overstate.
In July, Chancellor Merkel, herself raised in Communist East Germany, signaled that she understood the importance – for all Western allies – of collecting intelligence. But she also emphasized that German or European laws should not be violated, and one needed to ensure that it was the rule of law and not of the strong that guided allied actions.
The alarm of Americans – and indeed their allies – after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks was understandable, Ms. Merkel said then, but “the aim does not justify the means. Not everything which is technically doable, should be done. The question of relative means must always be answered: what relation is there between the danger and the means we choose, also and especially with regard to preserving the basic rights contained in our Basic law?”
Two senior U.S. Administration officials were visiting Berlin on Wednesday as part of the ongoing exchange on intelligence and many other matters, in particular the trans-Atlantic trade negotiations that both the United States and the European Union portray as a pillar for future relations. The latest round of such talks was canceled earlier this month because the U.S. government shutdown prevented the relevant American officials from traveling to Europe.

Jackie Calmes and Mark Landler contributed reporting from Washington, Melissa Eddy from Berlin and Dan Bilefsky from Paris.