Carney dances around German tapping claims

The White House said Thursday it was “not going to comment publicly” about allegations the U.S. government had in the past monitored the phone of German chancellor Angela Merkel.

“I’m just not going to, in this case or other cases, get into specific allegations,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

{mosads}But Carney did acknowledge that reports the German leader’s phone had been under surveillance “clearly caused tensions” and emphasized that the U.S. was “reviewing the way that we gather intelligence” to better balance privacy and security concerns.

On Wednesday, Carney said “the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of the chancellor,” but made no reference to past activities.

The German government on Thursday summoned U.S. Ambassador John B. Emerson to meet with Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. The public signal of displeasure was intended to underscore frustration in Berlin over the U.S. spying.

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