Top U.S. intelligence chiefs call spying reports "false"

The reports that the U.S. is spying on millions of European citizens are "completely false."

That's what N.S.A. Director General Keith Alexander told the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.

Alexander said the reporters in France, Spain and Italy breaking these stories simply do not understand the data collected by the N.S.A.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) NSA DIRECTOR GENERAL KEITH ALEXANDER, SAYING:

"They cite as evidence screenshots of the results of a web tool used for data management purposes but both they and the person who stole the classified data did not understand what they were looking at."

Alexander appeared alongside Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who also defended the practices.

The hearing came just hours after European Parliament members met with Alexander to address the issue.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) CLAUDE MORAES, BRITISH MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, HEAD OF THE CIVIL LIBERTIES COMMITTEE DELEGATION SENT TO WAS