BERLIN: German prosecutors have opened an investigation into the alleged monitoring of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone by the US National Security Agency, officials said yesterday, in a move that could again complicate diplomatic relations between the two allies.
It was not immediately clear what the new investigation might mean in terms of possible prosecutions of Americans.
Documents provided by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden indicated in October that the US was monitoring Merkel’s cellphone conversations, as well as those of 35 other foreign leaders. Merkel expressed outrage and accused Washington of a grave breach of trust.
In the ensuing diplomatic fallout, President Barack Obama acknowledged Germany’s anger and promised that new guidelines would cut back on such monitoring, except in the case of a national security interest.
“The leaders of our close friends and allies deserve to know that if I want to learn what they think about an issue, I will pick up the phone and call them rather than turning to surveillance,” Obama said at the time. Following the news of the German probe, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, said the US believes direct dialogue between the two countries rather than an investigation is the best way to address Germany’s concerns.
“We believe we have an open line and good communication” with Merkel and her team, Rhodes told reporters aboard Air Force One as Obama flew to Brussels for a meeting of the Group of Seven nations.
After mulling for months whether to open a formal probe, Chief Federal Prosecutor Harald Range determined “that sufficient factual evidence exists that unknown members of U.S. intelligence services spied on the mobile phone of Chancellor Angela Merkel,” his office said.
In a similarly thorny diplomatic case, Germany got as far as issuing warrants for 13 unidentified CIA agents suspected of kidnapping a German terrorism suspect and taking him to a detention center in Afghanistan. AP
