WASHINGTON — Facing lawmakers who suggested U.S. surveillance has gone too far, the national intelligence director on Tuesday defended spying on foreign allies as necessary and said such scrutiny of America’s friends — and vice versa — is commonplace.
Another top intelligence official said the collection of phone records that prompted outrage across the Atlantic actually was conducted with the help of European governments.
The White House said Tuesday that President Barack Obama had ordered a full review of the programs and was considering changes.
National Intelligence Director James Clapper defended the secret surveillance that sweeps up phone records and e-mails of millions of Americans as vital to protecting against terrorists.
He said during his 50 years working in intelligence it was “a basic tenet” to collect confidential information about foreign leaders that reveals “if what they’re saying gels with what’s actually going on.”
Committee Chairman Mike Rogers asked whether allies had conducted the same type of espionage against U.S. leaders. “Absolutely,” Clapper responded.
Asked about collection of foreign phone records, the NSA’s director, Gen. Keith Alexander, testified that the U.S. did not collect European records alone.
Alexander said the U.S. was given data by NATO partners as part of a program to protect military interests.
A bipartisan plan introduced Tuesday would end the NSA’s sweep of phone records, allowing the government to seek only records related to ongoing terror investigations.
In rare agreement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, both said Tuesday that it was time for a thorough review of NSA programs.
