Germany demanded United States's top spy in Berlin leave the country on Thursday as a new round of allegations of U.S. espionage worsened the friction between the two allies, according to Reuters.
Last year, Germany learned that the U.S. was intercepting Internet traffic in Germany and eavesdropping on Chancellor Angela Merkel's cell phone calls, Reuters reported.
"The representative of the U.S. intelligence services at the United States Embassy has been asked to leave Germany," German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement, according to Reuters. "The request occurred against the backdrop of the ongoing investigation by federal prosecutors as well as the questions that were posed months ago about the activities of U.S. intelligence agencies in Germany. The government takes the matter very seriously,"
Germany refused to identify the CIA station chief by name and in the United States, it is illegal to disclose the name of an undercover operative, Reuters reported.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest wouldn't comment on Germany's decision but said the U.S. takes intelligence matters "very seriously," according to Reuters. "I don't want you to come away from this exchange thinking we take this matter lightly," he said, adding that the U.S. and Germany continue to have a strong partnership.
The reports last year that the National Security Agency had targeted Merkel and Internet traffic have triggered a German criminal investigation and a parliamentary probe, Reuters reported.
Last week, a 31-year-old German intelligence employee was arrested on suspicion of spying for foreign powers since 2012, according to Reuters. German media have reported that he spied for the CIA.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he could not comprehend why the U.S. would spy on his country, Reuters reported.
"We speak to each other all the time, and nobody keeps their views secret," he said in an interview published Wednesday by the Saarbruecker Zeitung, according to Reuters.
