BERLIN (Sputnik) — The German government has been concealing from the public and parliament for several months that it had obtained a permit from Washington to reveal a list of NSA surveillance targets in Europe, the German magazine Spiegel reported Saturday, citing a leaked document.
According to the information obtained by Spiegel, on May 10, Berlin received a letter signed by White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, which allowed the German government to redirect the spying list to the parliamentary commission on condition the espionage targets would not be made public.
Earlier in August, German newspaper Zeit reported that US authorities were ready to hand the documents over to German lawmakers but Chief of Staff of the German Chancellery Peter Altmaier refuted the reports.
According to Spiegel, the German authorities are afraid that the NSA lists would be immediately published in the media if redirected to the commission.
