France 'will not tolerate' security threats from U.S., summons ambassador

PARIS, June 24 (UPI) -- France said it will not tolerate alleged spying by the U.S. National Security Agency and summoned the U.S. ambassador to the Foreign Ministry for a meeting.

The announcement comes early Wednesday after WikiLeaks published what it says are NSA reports about secret communications from French President Francois Hollande and two of his predecessors, presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac, between 2006 and 2012. The country's defense council said it will not tolerate "any action jeopardizing its security and the protection of its interests."

"These are unacceptable facts that have already led to clarifications between the United States and France," Hollande's office said after a meeting of top ministers and defense advisers. "France will not tolerate any acts that compromise its security and the safeguarding of its interests."

U.S. Ambassador to France Jane D. Hartley was ordered to meet with French officials Wednesday, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Ned Price, an NSA spokesman, would not comment on "specific intelligence allegations, adding the U.S. was "not targeting and will not target the communications of Mr Hollande."

Tuesday, WikiLeaks published "Espionnage Élysée," a collection of purported "top-secret" intelligence reports and technical documents from the NSA regarding communications of high-level French officials in the past 10 years.

WikiLeaks, lead by Julian Assange, said the NSA spied on cell phone conversations from the three presidents and other top officials, as well as correspondence regarding the global financial crisis, the Greek debt crisis, the future of the European Union, the relationship between Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the French involvement in the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.

"The revelation of the extent of U.S. spying against French leaders and diplomats echoes a previous disclosure in the German press concerning U.S. spying on the communications of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other German officials," WikiLeaks said in a written statement. "That disclosure provoked a political scandal in Germany, eventuating in an official inquiry into German intelligence co-operation with the United States, which is still ongoing."

In early June, German prosecutors announced it could not prove allegations the NSA wiretapped Merkel's cellphone.

Danielle Haynes contributed to this report.