YEREVAN, JULY 11, ARMENPRESS. Germany debated retaliatory measures against the United States after the discovery of an alleged double agent stoked still smouldering public anger over the NSA scandal, informs “Armenpress”.

The case of a German intelligence operative suspected of spying for Washington drew a fierce response from Berlin, where indignation against one of its closest allies has run high since reports last year that the US National Security Agency (NSA) tapped Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone.

Merkel fumed over the latest allegations on a visit to China, saying that if they proved to be true it "would be for me a clear contradiction as to what I consider to be trusting cooperation between agencies and partners."

Members of her cabinet went further, with Justice Minister Heiko Maas saying that German authorities should consider "criminal proceedings" against US spies.

"The American intelligence services are obsessed with surveillance," he said.

And Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, reportedly sent an internal memorandum calling for a new "360-degree approach" to intelligence gathering -- seen as a call to counter-espionage efforts against allies.

NATO partners including Washington are currently exempt from targeted German espionage operations under orders from Merkel's office, the daily Bild reported.

The deputy head of Merkel's Christian Democrats parliamentary group, Andreas Schockenhoff, demanded a formal expansion of the BND foreign intelligence service's remit to include the United States.

Even before the latest developments, 69 percent of Germans said in early June that their trust in the United States had diminished recently, according to a survey for Der Spiegel magazine. And 57 percent said they wanted their country to be less dependent on the US.