US spying ‘reached too far’, Kerry concedes, as new surveillance laws approved
Secretary of State admits surveillance has overstepped its brief while a US Senate committee approves new legislation to rein in practices
US Secretary of State John Kerry said for the first time on Thursday that, in some cases, US spying has gone too far, amid a continuing row with other nations over the matter.
“I assure you, innocent people are not being abused in this process, but there’s an effort to try to gather information,” Kerry told a London conference via video link. “And yes, in some cases, it has reached too far inappropriately”.
“And the president, our president, is determined to try to clarify and make clear for people, and is now doing a thorough review in order that nobody will have the sense of abuse,” he said.
“And in some cases, I acknowledge to you, as has the president, that some of these actions have reached too far, and we are going to make sure that does not happen in the future.”
Recent allegations and reports of widespread spying by the National Security Agency have sparked a major rift in trans-Atlantic ties.
Just last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel angrily confronted US President Barack Obama with allegations that the NSA was snooping on her phone, saying it would amount to a “breach of trust”.
