BERLIN (AP) — Reported U.S. spying in Germany likely gathered information that was "laughable" but the political damage is serious, Germany's top security official said Thursday.
In separate cases over the past 10 days, one man has been arrested and an investigation against another has been launched on suspicion that they worked for foreign intelligence. German media have reported that the men are suspected of passing secrets to the U.S.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said that the scope of the cases and who was involved are not yet clear, but that talks are taking place with the United States at various levels.
"If the situation remains what we know now, the information reaped by this suspected espionage is laughable," de Maiziere said in a statement. "However, the political damage is already disproportionate and serious."
One of his predecessors as Germany's top security official, current Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, said Chancellor Angela Merkel is "not amused" by the spying cases.
Germany relies strongly on the United States in the fight against terrorism but "that doesn't mean that the Americans are allowed to recruit third-rate people here," Schaeuble said in comments broadcast Wednesday night on Phoenix television.
Schaeuble said that if the reports turn out to be true, "that's so stupid that one can only cry at the foolishness of it."