BBC Online :
President Barack Obama has said he will not let controversial surveillance by US intelligence services undermine Washington’s ties with Germany.
Speaking to Germany’s ZDF TV, he indicated that US bugging of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone had been a mistake and would not happen again. After the row broke out last year, Merkel accused the US of an unacceptable breach of trust. On Friday, Obama ordered curbs on how intelligence was being collected.
“As long as I’m president of the United States, the chancellor of Germany will not have to worry about this.”
But he added the US intelligence services, like all others, would continue to be interested in what world governments’ intentions were.
“There is no point in having an intelligence service if you are restricted to the things that you can read in the New York Times or Der Spiegel, ” he said.
