The National Security Agency has carried out extensive electronic surveillance in France, a French newspaper reported Monday, drawing an angry condemnation from an important American ally.
The report, based on secret documents leaked by Edward J. Snowden, was published in Le Monde, the authoritative French newspaper, the day Secretary of State John Kerry arrived here for an official visit.
Adding to the previous disclosures about the agency’s wide surveillance net abroad, the article said the agency had recorded 70 million digital communications in a single month, from Dec. 10, 2012, to Jan. 8, 2013. . . .
The Foreign Ministry summoned the American ambassador, Charles H. Rivkin, who met with ministry officials on Monday morning.
“These kinds of practices between partners are totally unacceptable and we must be assured that they are no longer being implemented,” Mr. Rivkin was told, according to a ministry spokesman, Alexandre Giorgini.
The interior minister, Manuel Valls, speaking on Europe 1 Radio, called the revelations “shocking” and said they “will require explanation.”
“If an allied country is spying on France, it’s totally unacceptable,” he said. . . .
Mr. Giorgini of the Foreign Ministry said that Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius would discuss the issue with Mr. Kerry when the two meet on Tuesday, although the main purpose of the meeting was to talk about the Middle East and Iran.