Germany to curtail NSA spying
Ronald Pofalla, Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff, discussed the ongoing NSA surveillance first before a German parliamentary committee and then in front of the media. His biggest concern was not just the information leaked by Edward Snowden which exposed the extent of the United States' global data surveillance operations, but the cooperation of German intelligence services as well. For a long time, Merkel tried to ride out the scandal; whenever she addressed the issue, she either spoke in vague terms or she simply said that she could not seriously be expected to be involved in everything.