A US lawmaker has reportedly said that the European countries, currently expressing angst over the alleged NSA snoop-ops, should rather be grateful for the American spying programmes as it keeps them safe.
GOP Congressman Rep. Mike Rogers said that if the French citizens knew the exact nature of the surveillance programmes, they would be applauding and popping champagne corks.
Rogers further defending the programmes said that they keep the French, the US and its European allies safe adding that the spying is actually a legitimate protection of nation-state interest, CBS News reports.
Rep. Peter King also defended the programmes and said that president Obama should stop apologizing about US surveillance practices as the NSA has saved thousands of lives not just in the US but in France, Germany and throughout Europe.
The growing debate about the fine line between national security and citizens' privacy has been ongoing as a result of the revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden that the US allegedly snooped on telephone and phone data of millions of citizens across the world in a bid to fight terrorism.
Meanwhile, there are also some in the Congress who neither defended the programme nor talked against it completely.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said that the recent revelations have dealt significant damage to the US' bilateral relationships with overseas allies, questioning further the NSA programme, while Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. said that it would be plainly inappropriate for the US to spy on the head of state of an ally.
According to the report, US allies including Germany have aggressively sought explanations from Obama administration about the recent claims that as many as 35 world leaders have been subject to spying by the NSA and the German intelligence officials would be traveling to Washington to push forward the investigations in the matter.
