CRI听力:US to Review Surveillance Practices after Spy Allegations

The White House says there may need to be additional constraints in U.S. surveillance practices.

This, after a series of embarrassing disclosures about the broad scope of its intelligence gathering.

CRI's Li Jing has more.

Report: European lawmakers are in Washington to try to get more information about the mass surveillance programs the U.S. National Security Agency is said to be involved with.

After meeting with U.S. intelligence officials, European Parliament members have emerged frustrated.

Elmar Brok is the chair of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee.

"I think confidence is damaged."

Anger towards the U.S. has been on the rise, as new revelations about American surveillance programs have emerged across several European countries, including Germany, Spain, France and Italy.

A Spanish newspaper, El Mundo, has published a document which shows the U.S. National Security Agency has intercepted more than 60 million phone calls in Spain in one month alone.

Spain's government has summoned the U.S. ambassador to discuss the allegations, warning it could break the climate of trust between the two countries if it proves true.

German magazine Der Spiegel has also printed allegations the U.S. embassy in Berlin is one of the headquarters used by the U.S. to monitor German communications - including those of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert says they are currently investigating the issue.

Still, he says the German side will work to keep the U.S.-German relationship in tact.

"The relationship between Germany and the United Sates is of great interest for both countries. Where trust is damaged it has to be rebuilt together with America. This is what the Chancellor wants to work towards."

White House spokesperson Jay Carney concedes the U.S. is concerned about its relationships with its European allies, and says they're working to address those concerns through diplomatic channels.

He also suggests constraints may be needed in U.S. surveillance practices.

"At the same time, with new capabilities we recognize that there needs to be additional constraints on how we gather and use intelligence, and its in the context that this dynamic technology environment that the president has directed us to review our surveillance capability."

The Obama administration says the review is to be completed by year's end.

National Security Expert James Lewis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies says Europeans are looking both for answers and concessions from the US.

"The legitimacy we had, the credibility that we had a decade ago is a little tattered and that means the Europeans look at us in a different way. They're a little more hostile and that's what we have to get ahead of, that's what we have to deal with."

Meanwhile, the Chinese government is calling on the international community to speed up the formulation of guidelines for cyberspace under the lead of the UN.

The comments come on the heels of a new report in a Japanese newspaper this week which says the Japanese government turned down a request by the US National Security Agency to tap into its fibreoptic network in 2011.

The report suggests the NSA was hoping to use Japan's links to the fibreoptic network in East Asia to monitor communications coming out of the region, particularly China.

For CRI, this is Li Jing.