The US has sought to ease French concerns over
claims the US National Security Agency secretly
recorded millions of phone calls in France.
President Barack Obama called French counterpart
Francois Hollande to discuss the issue, while US
Secretary of State John Kerry said France was "one of
our oldest allies".
President Hollande told the US leader of his "deep
disapproval".
Officials, businesses and terror suspects were tracked,
it is claimed.
The claims were carried in France's Le Monde
newspaper and are based on leaks from US ex-
intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.
'Information gathering'
A White House statement said the two presidents had
discussed the latest disclosure, "some of which have
distorted our activities and some of which raise
legitimate questions for our friends and allies about
how these capabilities are employed".
It said: "President [Obama] made clear that the United
States has begun to review the way that we gather
intelligence, so that we properly balance the legitimate
security concerns of our citizens and allies with the
privacy concerns that all people share."
For his part, President Hollande said such practices
were "unacceptable between friends and allies because
they infringe on the privacy of French citizens," and
demanded "explanations" from Mr Obama, according
to a statement issued by French presidency.
Mr Kerry, who was in Paris to meet Arab League
officials, said that the US would continue "bilateral
consultations" to address the issue.
"Protecting the security of our citizens in today's world
is a very complicated, very challenging task... because
there are lots of people out there seeking to do harm to
other people," Mr Kerry said.
In an earlier statement, National Security Council
spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said that "all nations"
conducted spying operations.
"As a matter of policy we have made clear that the
United States gathers foreign intelligence of the type
gathered by all nations," she said.
Envoy summoned
Le Monde says the NSA spied on 70.3 million phone
calls in France in just 30 days between 10 December
last year and 8 January 2013.
The intercepts were apparently triggered by certain key
words.
The agency also apparently captured millions of text
messages.
It was unclear whether the content of the calls and
messages was stored, or just the metadata - the details
of who was speaking to whom.
And the paper did not say whether the operation,
codenamed US-985D, was still in progress.
France's foreign ministry summoned US ambassador
Charles Rivkin over the allegations.
The BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris says the outrage is
largely for public consumption, because the French
government has been accused of running its own
snooping operation similar to the US.
Le Monde reported in July that the French government
was storing vast amounts of personal data of its citizens
on a supercomputer at the headquarters of the DGSE
intelligence service.
The latest revelations follow claims in the German
media that US agents hacked into the email account of
former Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
Mr Snowden, a former NSA worker, went public with
revelations about US spying operations in June.
The information he leaked led to claims of systematic
spying by the NSA and CIA on a global scale.
Targets included rivals like China and Russia, as well as
allies like the EU and Brazil.
The NSA was also forced to admit it had captured email
and phone data from millions of Americans.
Mr Snowden is currently in Russia, where he was
granted a year-long visa after making an asylum
application.
The US wants him extradited to face trial on criminal
charges.
claims the US National Security Agency secretly
recorded millions of phone calls in France.
President Barack Obama called French counterpart
Francois Hollande to discuss the issue, while US
Secretary of State John Kerry said France was "one of
our oldest allies".
President Hollande told the US leader of his "deep
disapproval".
Officials, businesses and terror suspects were tracked,
it is claimed.
The claims were carried in France's Le Monde
newspaper and are based on leaks from US ex-
intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.
'Information gathering'
A White House statement said the two presidents had
discussed the latest disclosure, "some of which have
distorted our activities and some of which raise
legitimate questions for our friends and allies about
how these capabilities are employed".
It said: "President [Obama] made clear that the United
States has begun to review the way that we gather
intelligence, so that we properly balance the legitimate
security concerns of our citizens and allies with the
privacy concerns that all people share."
For his part, President Hollande said such practices
were "unacceptable between friends and allies because
they infringe on the privacy of French citizens," and
demanded "explanations" from Mr Obama, according
to a statement issued by French presidency.
Mr Kerry, who was in Paris to meet Arab League
officials, said that the US would continue "bilateral
consultations" to address the issue.
"Protecting the security of our citizens in today's world
is a very complicated, very challenging task... because
there are lots of people out there seeking to do harm to
other people," Mr Kerry said.
In an earlier statement, National Security Council
spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said that "all nations"
conducted spying operations.
"As a matter of policy we have made clear that the
United States gathers foreign intelligence of the type
gathered by all nations," she said.
Envoy summoned
Le Monde says the NSA spied on 70.3 million phone
calls in France in just 30 days between 10 December
last year and 8 January 2013.
The intercepts were apparently triggered by certain key
words.
The agency also apparently captured millions of text
messages.
It was unclear whether the content of the calls and
messages was stored, or just the metadata - the details
of who was speaking to whom.
And the paper did not say whether the operation,
codenamed US-985D, was still in progress.
France's foreign ministry summoned US ambassador
Charles Rivkin over the allegations.
The BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris says the outrage is
largely for public consumption, because the French
government has been accused of running its own
snooping operation similar to the US.
Le Monde reported in July that the French government
was storing vast amounts of personal data of its citizens
on a supercomputer at the headquarters of the DGSE
intelligence service.
The latest revelations follow claims in the German
media that US agents hacked into the email account of
former Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
Mr Snowden, a former NSA worker, went public with
revelations about US spying operations in June.
The information he leaked led to claims of systematic
spying by the NSA and CIA on a global scale.
Targets included rivals like China and Russia, as well as
allies like the EU and Brazil.
The NSA was also forced to admit it had captured email
and phone data from millions of Americans.
Mr Snowden is currently in Russia, where he was
granted a year-long visa after making an asylum
application.
The US wants him extradited to face trial on criminal
charges.
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