US ESPIONAGE CHIEFS hit back today in a row over mass spying, saying reports American eavesdroppers scooped up millions of phone records in Europe were “completely false.”

In a stunning twist to the transatlantic spying storm, General Keith Alexander, head of the National Security Agency, said that in many cases European spy agencies had accessed phone records and shared them with the NSA.

Spy ban

National Security Agency Director General Keith Alexander, center, arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington. Pic: AP Photo/ Evan Vucci

The revelations came as a senior official said President Barack Obama was considering banning US spies from tapping the telephones of allied leaders, in the wake of German outrage over alleged snooping on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s communications.

America’s European allies have spent days angrily protesting after newspaper reports, based on leaks from fugitive analyst Edward Snowden, that Washington collected tens of millions of telephone calls and online communications in Europe as part as a vast anti terror sweep.

But two top spy agency chiefs testifying before Congress said the reports were based on a misunderstanding of information passed by Snowden to European newspapers.

“The assertions by reporters in France, Spain, Italy that NSA collected tens of millions of phone calls are completely false,” Alexander told the House Intelligence Committee

To be perfectly clear, this is not information that we collected on European citizens.

Hours earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported that electronic spying was carried out by the intelligence agencies of France and Spain – outside their own borders and sometimes in war zones – and was then passed onto the NSA.

The claims, if true, could embarrass European governments which have vehemently protested to the United States about alleged overreaching and infringments on the privacy of its citizens by the NSA.

From left, Deputy National Security Agency Director Chris Inglis, National Security Agency Director General Keith Alexander, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Deputy Attorney General James Cole, testify on Capitol Hill in Washington. Pic: AP Photo/ Evan Vucci

Alexander said journalists had misinterpreted leaked data about the alleged spying operations.

“They cite as evidence screen shots of the results of a web tool used for data management purposes, but both they and the person who stole the classified data did not understand what they were looking at,” he said.

Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, backed up claims that the European media reports were wrong.

This was not the United States collecting on France and Germany. This was France and Germany collecting. And it had nothing to do with their citizens, it had to do with collecting in NATO areas of war, like Afghanistan.

There was no immediate comment from the spy agencies in the European countries mentioned.

A senior official meanwhile said that Obama was considering whether to bar US spy agencies from eavesdropping on allied leaders in the wake of the Merkel row.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence matters, said the step was under consideration, but that no policy decisions had yet been finalised, as Obama awaits results of several already announced reviews into US surveillance practices.

During the House hearing, Alexander and the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, told lawmakers that foreign nations were also spying on US leaders.

“Do you believe that the allies have conducted or at any time, any type of espionage activity against the United States of America, our intelligence services, our leaders or otherwise?” said Mike Rogers, chairman of the House committee.

“Absolutely,” said Clapper.

Eavesdropping

The United States took a new battering in Europe today when Spain’s public prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation into its reported mass eavesdropping on millions of telephone calls to determine if a crime was committed.

The move came a day after the US ambassador to Madrid was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to hear a demand for explanations.

Spain became involved after the El Mundo daily published a classified document purportedly showing that US intelligence services tracked 60.5 million Spanish telephone calls in one month.

- © AFP, 2013

Read: A ‘total review’ on US surveillance operations ordered>