Copenhagen, May 31 (IANS): Danish Defense Intelligence Service (FE) has given the US National Security Agency (NSA) open internet access to spy on senior politicians of neighbouring countries, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a media report said.
The report was published on Sunday by Denmark's national broadcaster DR News, in collaboration with Swedish, Norwegian, German and French media, Xinhua news agency reported.
The media outlets found out some "startling conclusions" in a secret internal investigation on the FE dubbed as "Operation Dunhammer" which was concluded in May 2015.
A significant conclusion in the Dunhammer report, according to DR News, is that the NSA has purposefully obtained data and thus been able to clandestinely spy on targeted heads of state, as well as neighbouring Scandinavian leaders, top politicians, and high-ranking officials in Germany, Sweden, Norway, and France.
Danish Minister of Defence Trine Bramsen responded to the report by sending an email to DR News, saying that the government will not "enter into speculation about any intelligence matters from the press or others... Systematic wiretapping of close allies is unacceptable".
However, the governments of Norway and Sweden are pressing Denmark and demanding immediate answers about the alleged NSA espionage through Danish cables.
"We demand to be fully informed about matters concerning Swedish citizens, companies and interests. And then we have to see how the answer sounds from a political side in Denmark," Swedish Minister of Defence Peter Hultqvist told state broadcaster SVT on Sunday.
However, according to DR News' report, the information about the NSA's espionage through cooperation with the FE should already have been known by the Defence Minister as details were included in a four-volume statement that Bramsen received from the FE in August 2020.
In the statement, the FE was accused of obtaining and passing on information about Danish citizens, according to local media.
Bramsen has harshly criticized the failure by the FE's management to follow up on or investigate further signs of espionage within the area of the Ministry of Defence.
There are indications that the FE has "initiated operational activities in violation of Danish law", he said.
Then FE head Lars Findsen was also suspended from service along with two other colleagues.