Free Republic

Not for the first time since he took office, President Obama is being accused of looking a lot like his predecessor when it comes to terrorism. This week, the anger came from media reports detailing the scope of National Security Agency (NSA) espionage in Europe, including bugging the cellphone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a sweep of French metadata from phone calls, e-mails, and other electronic communications similar to what it has done in the US. For a man who first took office promising change in how America treated the world, it looked like more of the same. Already,...

The chief of the US spy agency NSA has not discussed the alleged bugging of German chancellor's phone with President Barack Obama, officials say. Gen Keith Alexander never discussed alleged operations involving Chancellor Angela Merkel, an NSA spokeswoman said. German media say the US has been tapping the chancellor's phone since 2002, and Mr Obama was told in 2010. The row has led to the worst diplomatic crisis between the two countries in living memory. A report in German tabloid Bild am Sonntag claimed that Gen Alexander had told the president about the bugging himself. An NSA source told the...