The American promise to European countries not to commit more wiretapping after the wiretapping scandal that came to light in 2013 from the Edward Snowden revelations has not been kept. To reveal the background of the recent and incredible American spy story to the detriment of some European countries was the Danish public television DR. The US through his National Security Agency, better known as NSA, allegedly intercepted communications, via Danish submarine cables, of parliamentarians and senior officials from Germany, France, Norway and Sweden, including the German chancellor Angela Merkel.
The NSA was able to access text messages, phone calls and Internet traffic, including searches, chat and messaging services. The US espionage activity was described in detail in a secret report by the Danish internal defense working group, named 'Operation Dunhammer'.
The French reaction with its president was immediate Macrons: "Unacceptable facts between allies, and even less between allies and European partners ”.Macron and Merkel herself they publicly asked the Biden administration for plausible explanations at a joint press conference. Also for the Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg "it is unacceptable that countries with close cooperation feel the need to spy on each other", for this reason she officially asked Denmark for "all the information in its possession". Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist turned to his Danish counterpart to find out if there was also activity on Swedish politicians, and the German government spokesman also reported that Berlin is trying to clarify every position. It is not yet known whether the Danish government was aware of the operational intelligence activity between US and Danish agents. One thing is certain, the Danish Defense Minister Trine was informed of the espionage activity in August 2020, writes the Ansa. To the Danish broadcaster, the Danish defense chief said only that "The systematic interception of close allies is unacceptable". At the time of the illegal activities, Margrethe Vestager was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, now Vice President of the EU Commission, who tries to stay away from the controversy also because the Danish secret services are headed by the Ministry of Defense. In addition to Merkel, among those who have been spied on by the NSA are the then German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the then opposition leader Peer Steinbruck.
