Germany has known about US surveillance 'for years' Data obtained by the US National Security Agency has been used by Germany's intelligence service, the BND, during investigations into the kidnappings of its citizens in Yemen and Afghanistan, according to a report in Bild. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said on Sunday that she would seek tougher European Union data protection rules. Mrs Merkel, who has previously accused the US of "Cold War tactics," also said she expected Washington to abide by German laws. In a recent interview with Der Spiegel, Mr Snowden said that the NSA worked closely with Germany and other Western countries. The Bild report said a joke doing the rounds within America's security services compared their work with the manufacture of cheap clothing in Bangladesh: "Everyone wants our product, but no one wants to know exactly how it's made." Pressed about the report at the government's official press conference on Monday, Mrs Merkel's spokesman said he could not provide "any information on operational details of intelligence work." The spokesman added that there was "nothing new" in German intelligence services cooperating with foreign partners.