Denmark's secret service helped the US spy on European politicians including German Chance
llor Angela Merkel from 2012 to 2014, Danish media report.The Defence Intelligence Service
(FE) collaborated with the US National Security Agency (NSA) to gather information, accor
ding to a report by Danish broadcaster Danmarks Radio.Intelligence was collected on other
officials from Germany, France, Sweden and Norway, according to the report.Similar allegat
ions emerged in 2013.Then, secrets leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden alleged tappi
ng of the German chancellor's phone by the NSA.When those allegations were made, the White
House gave no outright denial, but said Mrs Merkel's phone was not being bugged at the ti
me and would not be in future.Germany is a close ally of the US.Leaks that exposed US spy
programmeProfile: Who is Edward Snowden?In a new report shared with several European news
agencies, the NSA is said to have accessed text messages and the phone conversations of a
number of prominent individuals by tapping in to Danish internet cables in co-operation wi
th the FE.The alleged set-up, said in the report to have been codenamed "Operation Dunhamm
er", allowed the NSA to obtain data using the telephone numbers of politicians as search p
arameters, according to Danmarks Radio.The report follows an investigation by the broadcas
ter involving interviews with nine sources, all of whom were said to have had access to cl
assified information held by the FE.Along with Mrs Merkel, then-German Foreign Minister Fr
ank-Walter Steinmeier and opposition leader at the time Peer Steinbruck were also said to
have been targeted.Denmark's Defence Minister Trine Bramsen, who had reportedly been earli
er informed of the espionage, told Danmarks Radio that "systematic wiretapping of close al
lies is unacceptable".Neither the FE nor the NSA have yet commented on the latest reports.
Following news of the report on Sunday, Mr Snowden accused US President Joe Biden of being
"deeply involved in this scandal the first time around". Mr Biden was US vice-president a
t the time the reported surveillance took place."There should be an explicit requirement f
or full public disclosure not only from Denmark, but their senior partner as well," he twe
eted.In 2013, Mr Snowden - a former contractor for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA
) - leaked to the media details of extensive internet and phone surveillance by US intelli
gence.The US then charged him with theft of government property, unauthorised communicatio
n of national defence information and wilful communication of classified communications in
telligence.Mr Snowden later sought refuge in Russia.Prior to the evidence he exposed, top
US intelligence officials had publicly insisted that the NSA had never knowingly collected
data from private phone records.