Germany Says NSA Spying Must Have Consequences Amid Probe

Germanys top prosecutor will start a formal investigation into whether U.S. intelligence agents tapped Chancellor Angela Merkels mobile phone, potentially heightening tensions between the two countries over spying.

The Federal Prosecutors office in Karlsruhe said it had uncovered sufficient initial evidence to probe whether U.S. spies had violated German law. A second preliminary inquiry into mass surveillance by U.S. and British intelligence didnt yield enough proof to warrant a probe, the prosecutor said.

Extensive findings have brought forward enough initial clues that unknown officials of the American intelligence services placed Chancellor Angela Merkels mobile phone under surveillance, the prosecutor said in a statement today.

An official probe may widen a rift between the governments in Berlin and Washington that surfaced in October amid reports that signals-intelligence agents from the National Security Agency had hacked the German leaders phone. A separate parliamentary investigation into mass surveillance, disclosed in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden to the media last year, is already under way in Berlin.

German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said there have to be consequences if evidence arises that U.S. agents tapped government officials devices or conducted mass surveillance in violation of German law. The prosecutor isnt under political pressure from Merkels government coalition to act, he said.

If there are indications that German law has been broken, then investigators have to take action, Maas told Deutschlandfunk radio. That applies to the chancellors mobile phone as much as it does to mass surveillance.

Following reports last year that the chancellors phone had been tapped, the White House said agents arent spying on Merkel and pledged not to do so in the future.

Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters on Air Force One today that direct dialogue with the U.S. is the best way for Germany to address its concerns over spying.

Germanys justice system will be making its own decisions about its own inquiries, but we believe we have an open line and good communication with the chancellor and her team, Rhodes said, while traveling with President Barack Obama.

Der Spiegel magazine, citing Snowden-leaked documents, reported in October that U.S. authorities obtained Merkels cell number in 2002, when she was opposition leader. The surveillance was carried out by an NSA Special Collection Service from within the U.S. embassy adjacent to Berlins Brandenburg Gate, Spiegel reported at the time.

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Germany Says NSA Spying Must Have Consequences Amid Probe