US, Denmark spied on Euro allies: Report
COPENHAGEN: The US National Security Agency (NSA) used a partnership with Denmark’s foreign intelligence unit to spy on senior officials of neighbouring countries, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Danish state broadcaster DR said.
The findings are the result of a 2015 internal investigation in the Danish Defence Intelligence Service into NSA’S role in the partnership, DR said, citing nine unnamed sources with access to the investigation.
According to the investigation, which covered the period from 2012 to 2014, the NSA used Danish information cables to spy on senior officials in Sweden, Norway, France and Germany, including former German foreign inister Frank-walter Steinmeier and former German opposition leader Peer Steinbrück.
A government spokesman on Monday said the German government has taken note and is following up on the report. “The federal government is in contact with all relevant national and international bodies for clarification,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert said.
“As a matter of principle, and you already know this, I would ask you to understand that the federal government does not openly comment on matters concerning intelligence activities.”
France warned that alleged US spying on European allies would be “extremely serious” if confirmed, as questions mounted over whether Denmark knew what the US was doing.
“It is extremely serious,” France’s Europe minister Clement Beaune told France Info radio. “We need to see if our partners in the EU, the Danes, have committed errors or faults in their cooperation with American services.”
Denmark’s neighbours Sweden and Norway have also demanded explanations from Copenhagen, though the tone has been more cautious.
Danish defence minister Trine Bramsen declined to comment on “speculation” about intelligence matters in the media.
In Washington, the NSA and the office of the director of national intelligence declined to comment. Denmark, a close ally of the United States, hosts several key landing stations for subsea internet cables to and from Sweden, Norway, Germany, Holland and Britain.