US spied on Merkel and senior European leaders

The US National Security Agency used a partnership with Denmark's foreign intelligence unit to spy on senior officials of neighboring countries, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Danish state broadcaster DR said on Sunday.

The findings are the result of a 2015 internal investigation in the Danish Defense 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 Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and former German opposition leader Peer Steinbruck.

Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said yesterday that "the German government has taken note of the reporting. It is in contact with all relevant national and international authorities for clarification."

The spying was detailed in a secret, internal working group report codenamed "Operation Dunhammer" and presented to top management of the military intelligence unit in May 2015, DR said.

Danish Defense Minister Trine Bramsen, who took over the defense portfolio in June 2019, was informed of the spying in August 2020, according to DR.

Bramsen declined to comment on "speculation" about intelligence matters in the media.

"I can more generally say that this government has the same attitude as the former Prime Minister expressed in 2013 and 2014 – systematic wiretapping of close allies is unacceptable," Bramsen told Reuters in a statement.

In Washington, the NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Danish Defense Intelligence Service also 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.

Through targeted retrievals and the use of NSA-developed analysis software known as Xkeyscore, NSA intercepted both calls, texts and chat messages to and from telephones of officials in the neighboring countries, sources told DR.

The investigation in the Danish Defense Intelligence Service was launched in 2014 following concerns about former NSA employee Edward Snowden's leaks the previous year revealing how the NSA works, according to DR.