The National Security Agency head, Gen. Keith Alexander has reportedly said that the allegations about the US snooping on telephone and email data of European citizens based on revelations made by whistleblower Edward Snowden are 'completely false'.
Alexander said that the information on European citizens has been collection with the help of US' NATO allies and in defense of the nation and its military operations.
According to CNN, this comes amidst the rising debate about the alleged snoop-ops in which not only citizens but world leaders have also claimed to be the targets and now even US lawmakers are reconsidering their support for the programmes.
Alexander indicated that media reports have been presented in an exaggerated manner as NSA legally collected metadata from some phone calls, and the rest of the metadata came from US allies.
Defending the programmes, the NSA chief further said that the programmes has saved lives not only in the US but in Europe and around the world.
However, Obama administration along with the surveillance agencies has together decided to review the intelligence policy so as to decide upon the extent of tapping on citizens' privacy for securing the nation.