The Obama administration says it is considering halting the National Security Agency’s spying on leaders of U.S. government allies. The news follows a diplomatic uproar over leaks of Edward Snowden showing the NSA monitored the phones of at least 35 foreign politicians, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In a statement, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Dianne Feinstein, said the White House told her it will stop spying on friendly heads of state. But the White House later issued a denial, saying no final decision has been made. There are also no reported plans to stop the mass surveillance of millions of citizens in the countries involved. In an interview with the new U.S. cable network Fusion, Obama declined to answer whether he was previously aware of U.S. spying on foreign leaders.

President Obama: “Well, first of all, I’m not confirming a bunch of assumptions that have been made in the press, but what I have said is that the national security operations generally have one purpose, and that is to make sure that the American people are safe and that I’m making good decisions. And I’m the final user of all of the intelligence that they gather. But they’re involved in a whole wide range of issues, and we give them policy direction, but what we’ve seen over the last several years is their capacity has continued to develop and expand, and that’s why I’m initiating now a review to make sure that what they’re able to do doesn’t necessarily mean what they should be doing.”