EU delegation left with more questions than they arrived with, Washington’s answers don’t justify NSA spying.

EU delegation left with more questions than they arrived with, Washington’s answers don’t justify NSA spying. (RT).

The European Union’s delegation of politicians trusted with getting answers from Washington over the National Security Agency’s (NSA) espionage programs in the EU left with more questions than they arrived with.
The heated condemnation of the reports the US eavesdropped on millions of calls as well as the communication of EU leaders was dampened by spy Director Gen. Keith Alexander.
“It is much more important for this country that we defend this nation and take the beatings than it is to give up a program that would result in us being attacked,” Alexander told House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Wednesday.

Furthermore, he said that the reports in European media alleging the NSA recorded millions of personal phone calls were “completely false.”

Addressing allegations of EU complicity in the spying he said that some data had been provided “to NSA by foreign partners,” but it is “not information that we collected on European citizens.”
“It represents information that we and our NATO allies have collected in defense of our countries and in support of military operations," said Alexander.

Following the meeting members of the delegation told RT’s Gayane Chichikyan that espionage on such a scale could not be justified by the American fight against terrorism.

Spanish MEP Salvador Sedo said that Alexander gave some statistics and an explanation neither of which “clarify the situation.” “This is not justifiable,” said Sedo, adding that the tapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone was not included in Alexander’s explanation.

A group of German officials are also in Washington this week to address allegations of the NSA eavesdropping on the Chancellor phone.

RT’s correspondent, Gayane Chichikyan, described the EU delegation’s visit as purely “symbolic.”
“They came to Washington, expressed reserved indignation and then agreed to cooperate further. This is something that we’ve seen before,” said Chichikyan.


The EU delegation left Washington on Wednesday and it remains to be seen what action will be taken in relation to the talks with US officials. European leaders have threatened to suspend the multi-billion ‘Safe Harbor’ trade pact as a measure against US spying. The deal allows American companies to collect data on clients, something that the EU believes is being undermined by the NSA.Read the full story here.