BERLIN (AP) — Germany is demanding that Washington’s top spy in Berlin leave the country. The demand comes amid a new round of allegations of U.S. espionage.
The move to expel the CIA station chief also appears to reflect German impatience with what it sees as a pattern of American disrespect and interference.
U.S. officials say Germany’s action is extraordinary. While agents have sometimes been expelled — usually by unfriendly countries — a former U.S. official says he can’t remember an instance since the end of the Cold War when the ranking intelligence official was asked to leave a country.
Germany refused to identify the CIA station chief by name.
Two new cases of alleged U.S. spying have inflamed an uproar that came last year when it was learned that the U.S. was intercepting Internet traffic in Germany and eavesdropping on the cellphone calls of Chancellor Angela Merkel (AHN’-geh-lah MEHR’-kuhl).
A German government spokesman, in announcing the expulsion, said Germany “takes the matter very seriously.”
%@AP Links
198-a-13-(Josh Earnest, White House press secretary, at news conference)-“resolve the situation”-White House press secretary Josh Earnest says the administration is discussing the spying allegations with senior German officials. (10 Jul 2014)
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197-a-12-(Josh Earnest, White House press secretary, at news conference)-“comment on it”-White House press secretary Josh Earnest says he’s unable to say anything at all on the flap over two alleged U.S. spies operating in Germany. (10 Jul 2014)
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APPHOTO SOB110: German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during a joint news conference with the Prime Minster of Moldova Iurie Leanca, as part of a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, July 10, 2014. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) (10 Jul 2014)
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