WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the National Security Agency defended his beleaguered organization on Tuesday, saying it acts within the law to stop militant attacks and calling reports that the NSA collected data on millions of phone calls in Europe false.
Army General Keith Alexander, testifying with other U.S. spy chiefs before the House of Representatives Intelligence committee, sought to defuse a growing controversy over reports of NSA snooping on citizens and leaders of major U.S. allies.
The hearing took place as Congress is weighing new legislative proposals that could limit some of the NSA's more expansive electronic intelligence collection programs.
"It is much more important for this country that we defend this nation and take the beatings than it is to give up a program that would result in this nation being attacked," Alexander said, referring to criticism of his agency.
On Monday, that criticism broadened to include Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate's intelligence panel and a long-time ally of U.S. spy agencies.
The White House has moved to limit some NSA programs, including one that monitored the cellphone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Reuters reported on Tuesday that U.S. President Barack Obama has also curtailed NSA monitoring of United Nations headquarters in New York.
But under sympathetic questioning from the committee chairman, Representative Mike Rogers, Alexander said reports of NSA spying in Europe were exaggerated. He called media reports in France, Spain and Italy that the NSA collected data on tens of millions of phone calls in those countries "completely false."
Some of the data referenced in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden were collected not just by the NSA itself but was also "provided to NSA by foreign partners," he said. "This is not information that we collected on European citizens. It represents information that we and our NATO allies have collected in defense of our countries and in support of military operations."
The U.S. intelligence officials also sought to turn the tables, saying that Europeans also spy on the United States.
