US spy chiefs hit back in Europe row

WASHINGTON, D.C.: United States (US) espionage chiefs turned the tables on European allies in the transatlantic spat over intercepted phone records, saying in many cases it was European agencies—not the National Security Agency (NSA)—that gathered and shared them with America.

They dismissed as “completely false” allegations that American spy agencies had swept up data on millions of phone calls, and said European newspapers that had made those claims did not understand the data they were using to make the allegations.