EU delegation to meet at White House over NSA spying concerns
Members of the European Parliament's civil liberties committee will meet with Karen Donfried, the senior director for European affairs for the National Security Council, to discuss the impact of U.S. surveillance programs on EU citizens.
The group has been in Washington since Monday, meeting with officials from the State Department, Congress and intelligence agencies.
Germany is sending a separate delegation to the White House on Wednesday after revelations that the U.S. had monitored Chancellor Angela Merkel's cell phone. The news sparked an indignant response from the European powerhouse, a key U.S. ally. Merkel pronounced German confidence in the U.S. "shaken."Revelations of U.S. spying involving allied leaders and citizens have sparked calls for the United States to roll back its surveillance programs and threats of repercussions.
On Wednesday, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said authorities there have demanded an explanation from the United States about its surveillance activities. In Spain, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the nation's intelligence chief will brief lawmakers about what Spain knows about U.S. activities in a closed-door session in Madrid.
Last week, the European Parliament passed a nonbinding resolution calling for the end to a treaty with the United States allowing for the exchange of some banking data meant to help track terrorist financing.
Without providing details, the European Union delegation described its talks as an opportunity to explore "possible legal remedies for EU citizens" affected by U.S. surveillance.
The meeting between the Germans and the White House follows an agreement between Merkel and President Barack Obama to "intensify further the cooperation between U.S. and German intelligence services," NSC spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.
Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence leaders began to publicly push back Tuesday against the European complaints.
National Security Agency chief Gen. Keith Alexander denied Tuesday that the United States had collected telephone and e-mail records directly from European citizens, calling reports based on leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden "completely false."
Testifying Tuesday alongside Alexander before the House Intelligence Committee, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told lawmakers that covert spying among nations was a "fundamental given."
Despite such defenses, the White House is reviewing U.S. intelligence gathering operations.
"We need to look at and make sure that we are not just gathering intelligence because we can, but we're gathering it because we need it," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Tuesday, echoing similar comments earlier by Obama in an interview with Fusion TV.
The review should be completed by the end of the year, Carney said.