France has summoned U.S. Ambassador Charles Rivkin to address claims that the National Security Agency has spied on millions of French citizens, authorities said on Monday.
The French newspaper group, Le Monde, reported that documents from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed that the American spy group had conducted surveillance operations on the country’s citizenry. In response, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said during a gathering at the European Union that France authorities had demanded the U.S. ambassador head to Paris “immediately” to answer to the claims, USA Today reported.
Specifically, the documents from Mr. Snowden reveal that the NSA conducted a secret program called “US-985D” between December 2012 and January 2013 that intercepted and extracted data from more than 70 million telephone calls that were made in France.
France Interior Minister Manuel Vallas called the report “shocking,” USA Today reported.
But so far, the United States has not responded, Le Monde said.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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