US defends spying allegations

The head of US intelligence has told lawmakers that discerning foreign leaders' intentions is a key goal of the nation's spying operations.



Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said such efforts were a top tenet of US intelligence policy.



However, he told the intelligence panel of the House of Representatives the US did not indiscriminately spy on nations.



Clapper was reacting to a growing international row over reports the US eavesdropped on foreign allies.



He said that what he called the torrent of disclosures about American surveillance had been extremely damaging and that he anticipated more.



However, he said there was no other country that had the magnitude of oversight that the US had, and that any mistakes that had been made were human or technical.



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