The Obama administration is seeking the cooperation of the German government of Chancellor Angela Merkel on a couple of important matters, the confrontation with Russia over Ukraine and the negotiation of the Transatlantic Trade Treaty. However, they continue to treat Merkel like a suspicious shifty foreigner who can't be trusted with secret information.
Angela Merkel denied access to her NSA file
The US government has refused to grant Angela Merkel access to her NSA file, adding to the growing frustration with Washington over its failure to clear up remaining questions about the monitoring of the German chancellor's phone.
The latest information emerged in response to a parliamentary query by Green MP Omid Nouripour, who asked if the German chancellor had requested the release of paperwork relating to US intelligence agents' surveillance of her phone calls.
The news comes amid growing German frustration with the US and UK governments' failure to yield basic information about their surveillance activities. Earlier this week, interior minister Thomas de Maizière told Der Spiegel that the US response to the affair remained "inadequate".
"If two-thirds of what Edward Snowden reports, or of what is reported with attribution to him, is correct, then I come to the conclusion: the USA is acting without any restraint," said de Maizière, who emphasised that he was still a "transatlanticist by conviction". "America should be interested in improving the current situation. And words alone won't achieve that."
The White House national security spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said Merkel and Barack Obama "spoke on the phone in late October last year" about the NSA's monitoring of her calls.
Hayden reiterated that Obama assured Merkel that the US was no longer listening to her calls and had committed not to do so in the future. She added: "I'm not going to get into the detail of those discussions and exchanges, which are ongoing."
Given the claim of Gen. Hayden that Sen. Feinstein is just too emotional to be taken seriously about CIA torture, it seems likely that the US security state will come up with some more public relations gems in their response to the concerns of the Hon. Chancellor.