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Germany asks top US intelligence official to leave country over spy row Germany asks top US intelligence official to leave country over spy row
(35 minutes later)
The German government has asked the top US intelligence official in Berlin to leave the country, according to a politician from Angela Merkel's party. The German government has asked the top representative of America's secret services in Germany to leave the country. Members of the government's supervisory panel announced the measure at a press conference in Berlin this afternoon.
The move comes in response to two reported cases of suspected US spying in Germany and the year-long spat over reported NSA spying in Germany. Clemens Binninger, a member of Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, who chairs the committee that oversees the intelligence services, explained that the move came in response to America's "failure to cooperate on resolving various allegations, starting with the NSA and up to the latest incidents".
Clemens Binniger, who chairs the parliamentary committee that oversees the intelligence services, told reporters on Thursday that "the government has asked the representative of the US intelligence agencies in Germany to leave the country as a reaction to the ongoing failure to help resolve the various allegations, starting with the NSA and up to the latest incidents." The move comes in response to two reported cases of suspected US spying in Germany and the year-long spat over reported NSA spying in Germany, including claims that Merkel's phone was tapped.
More details soon... Merkel's spokesperson, Steffen Seibert, confirmed the decision in an official statement, which said: "The government takes these activities very seriously. It is essential and in the interest of the security of its citizens and its forces abroad for Germany to collaborate closely and trustfully with its western partners, especially the US.
"But mutual trust and openness is necessary. The government is still prepared to do so and expects the same of its closest partners."
Burkhard Lischka of the Social Democratic party said: "For over a year we have been asking questions and failed to get a response." As a result, Lischka said, "cracks" had started to appear in Germany's relationship with America.
Andre Hahn, a Left party member on the supervisory panel, said that the recent string of spying cases had shown that "we wouldn't put anything past Russia and China. But there's blind trust in the US. This trust has now taken a knock."