Obama, Merkel agree to talks on U.S. surveillance program The reports came to light amid the imbroglio over former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked details of surveillance activities by Washington. The leaders agreed to hold a meeting of U.S. and German security officials in the coming days to discuss the issue in greater detail. German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said Germany would send the sub-heads of German ministries to Washington - those below the level of deputy minister - and said they would assess the communication streams coming into Germany in a bid to protect German citizens. Thomas Oppermann, parliamentary floor leader of Germany's opposition Social Democrats, criticized Merkel's choice of delegation, however. "The Chancellor needs to hold proper government consultations," he told German television on Thursday. In the next week a government delegation of sub-heads of ministries will go to Washington so basically technocrats will be talking about this topic. It's a highly political issue. Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the SPD, said German authorities should quickly contact Snowden and consider giving him witness protection, German news magazine Spiegel said on Thursday. "The first step must be that the federal prosecutors office travels to Moscow to examine him as a witness," Gabriel was quoted as saying. And if they get the impression that he is a reliable witness, we have to consider whether he should be put into a witness protection program. He also called on German authorities to launch an investigation into those in positions of responsibility in the British and American secret services as well as in the German intelligence services. Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington and Michelle Martin in Berlin; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Hugh Lawson and Bob Burgdorfer