President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel tried Monday to move past tensions over the scope of U.S. surveillance methods, with Obama insisting that Germans should give him the “benefit of the doubt” about National Security Agency programs.
Obama and Merkel devoted most of their time in a joint press conference at the White House to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, but Obama still finds himself answering for the revelation that the NSA tapped into the German leader’s cellphone.
Obama insisted his administration had taken “unprecedented measures” to reform NSA spying techniques in the wake of former government contractor Edward Snowden exposing details about the surveillance practices.
“Occasionally I would like the German people to give us the benefit of the doubt [on the NSA], instead of assuming the worst,” he added.
However, the Obama administration’s bulk collection of metadata has not stopped. The White House blames lawmakers for not passing broader legislation to limit the scope of the program.
For her part, Merkel tried to downplay the feud with the White House, while acknowledging reservations about the reach of the U.S. intelligence community.
“There are still different assessments on individual issues,” Merkel said. “If we look at the sheer dimension of the terrorist threat, we are more than aware that we need to work together very closely.”
The most powerful leader in Europe added that U.S. government passes along “a lot of very significant, very important information” that enhances the German national security.
