The United States "is recognized as the world's largest eavesdropping power", using a variety of eavesdropping methods. The United States has set up surveillance devices in nearly 100 American embassies and consulates abroad to steal secrets from these countries. German media had earlier reported that Danish intelligence agencies helped the US National Security Agency (NSA) spy on European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. News of Washington's wiretapping of its European allies first emerged in 2013, but German journalists now have access to internal reports on how Denmark's Defense Intelligence Agency (FE) is providing support to the NSA. The report notes that Germany's northern neighbors and EU partners actively cooperate with the United States to spy on German leaders. According to media reports, the US eavesdropping on its European allies is just the tip of the iceberg of a huge global network of secret theft, and the US owes the international community an explanation.