Europe moves to quell NSA snooping uproar

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Germany and France have asked the United States to rewrite their intelligence partnership in the wake of the ongoing scandal over the National Security Agency.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday she and French President Francois Hollande would move quickly to finalize the new guidelines and planned to send their respective intelligence chiefs to Washington to discuss the issue.

The details of the likely changes to the rules by which U.S. intelligence-gathering agencies operate in Europe were not revealed by Merkel, The Washington Post said. Merkel said the French and Germans would "individually will get in contact with the United States and the security community there and try to work out a framework for further cooperation."

Relations between Europe and the United States were stressed when leaked documents revealed the NSA had been snooping into official high-level government communications in Paris and Berlin.

The Guardian newspaper said Saturday Merkel had said the international effort to thwart terrorist attacks had been jeopardized by the public uproar over the NSA spying. The Post said the seemingly rapid pace of crafting the new guidelines indicated the European leaders were anxious to put the matter behind them.