Damages US-German relations  An investigation would have serious repercussions for German-American relations which would be seriously against German interests. Germany needs the United States as an ally in NATO and both are currently disengaging from deployments in Afghanistan. Much more important might be the impact on intelligence sharing between Germany and the United States. Intelligence officials are concerned “They could simply shut off the faucet,” with the Americans simply no longer providing intelligence to Germany. This would immediately impact German security by making it more likely terrorists could attack German interests. [1] Germany should accept the Obama’s assurances “As long as I am the President of the United States, the German Chancellor need not worry about that [surveillance of Merkel]”. [2]  [1] Spiegel Staff, ‘Probing America: Top German Prosecutor Considers NSA Investigation’, Spiegel Online, 20 January 2014,   [2] Reuters, ‘Obama Tells Merkel, Germans He Will Not Wiretap’, Huffington Post, 18 January 2014,