According to the reports on Friday, German intelligence eavesdropped on Clinton as she traveled aboard a United States government plane.
German government sources said agents intercepted the conversation “by accident,” and added that the interception only occurred once and was not part of any plan to spy on the top US diplomat.
However, according to the reports, the German recording of Clinton’s conversation was not an isolated case and the German government had ordered espionage on a NATO partner.
This is a potential embarrassment for Berlin, which has lambasted Washington for its widespread surveillance activities.
The head of the CIA in Germany was expelled last month as revelations of double agents and the bugging of Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone soured relations between the two allies.
The developments came in the wake of last year’s revelations by US whistleblower Edward Snowden about US and UK spy agencies’ surveillance programs.
Leaked documents released last October revealed that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had been tapping Merkel’s phone, which provoked outrage in Germany.
In addition, Snowden’s leaked documents showed that Britain has been operating a covert listening post within a stone’s throw of Germany’s parliament, and Merkel’s offices in the Chancellery, using hi-tech equipment housed on the embassy roof.
SHI/SHI