The United States they spied on European politicians, including the German chancellor Angela Merkel, from 2012 to 2014 – during the Obama presidency – with the help of Danish intelligence, according to reports from the Danish and European media. Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) reported that the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States has intercepted Danish internet cables to spy on politicians and senior officials in Germany, Sweden, Norway and France, taking advantage of a surveillance collaboration with Danish military intelligence FE. The Danish Defense Ministry did not respond to requests for comment from the AFP.
The Minister of Defense Trine Bramsen, who took office in June 2019, was informed of the spying in August 2020, according to DR. He told the broadcaster that “systematic interception of close allies is unacceptable”. DR disclosed the information following an investigation it conducted together with Swedish broadcaster SVT, Norway’s NRK, German newspapers NDR, WDR and Suddeutsche Zeitung, and the French newspaper Le Monde. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel, then foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and then opposition leader Peer Steinbruck were among those the NSA had spied on, according to the Danish broadcaster. The NSA was able to access SMS text messages, phone calls, and Internet traffic, including searches, chats, and messaging services.
It espionage was detailed in a secret report, internal to the FE working group, codenamed “Operation Dunhammer” and presented to FE leadership in May 2015. Danmarks Radio said its information came from nine different sources that had access to classified information of FE, and claims that their revelations have been independently confirmed by several sources. Neither FE nor FE director at the time Lars Findsen have yet commented on the revelations. US espionage, if confirmed, was ongoing during and after the Snowden deal of 2013, which erupted when former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden revealed that the US government was spying on its citizens and its allies. In November 2020, Danmarks Radio reported, the United States had used Danish cables to spy on the Danish and European defense industries from 2012 to 2015.