The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has used a partnership with Denmark's foreign intelligence unit to spy on senior officials of neighbouring countries, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to Danish state broadcaster DR.
The findings are the result of an internal investigation in the Danish Defence Intelligence Service from 2015 into NSA's role in the partnership, DR said, citing nine unnamed sources with access to the investigation.
Asked for comment on the DR report, a spokesperson for the German chancellery said it only became aware of the allegations when asked about them by journalists, and declined to comment further. The internal investigation in the Danish Defence Intelligence Service was launched in 2014 following concerns about Edward Snowden's leaks the previous year revealing how the NSA works, according to DR.
"It is grotesque that friendly intelligence services are indeed intercepting and spying on top representatives of other countries," Steinbrueck told German broadcaster ARD. "Politically I consider it a scandal."
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