In a revelation that could have far-reaching implications for the United States, a report in Britain’s Guardian newspaper said that the US monitored the phone calls of as many as 35 world leaders.
The expose is based on classified documents leaked by fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden.
According to the report, the US National Security Agency (NSA) got hold of the phone numbers from a government official.
Further, officials in the White House, State Department and the Pentagon were also approached to pass on the contact details of foreign politicians.
Per the Guardian, the memo however acknowledged that eavesdropping on the numbers had produced “little reportable intelligence”.
The US government reacted cautiously to the report.
“We are not going to comment publicly on every specific alleged intelligence activity, and as a matter of policy we have made clear that the United States gathers foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations,” a White House spokeswoman said.
The revelations come after Germany demanded answers from Washington over allegations Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone was bugged, the worst spat between the two countries in a decade.
The White House did not deny the bugging, saying only it would not happen in future.
“In one recent case, a US official provided NSA with 200 phone numbers to 35 world leaders,” reads an excerpt from a confidential memo dated October 2006 which was quoted by the Guardian.
The identities of the politicians in question were not revealed.
The revelations in the centre-left Guardian suggested that the bugging of world leaders could be more widespread than originally thought, with the issue set to overshadow an EU summit in Brussels.
Earlier this week, US President Barack Obama had spoken to French President François Hollande following reports that the NSA listened to over 70 million phone records of French nationals over a one month period.
