WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama may ban US spying on allied leaders as part of a review of intelligence gathering, a senior Obama administration official said on Tuesday amid a diplomatic uproar over the National Security Agency's surveillance ability.
A week after reports surfaced that the eavesdropping extended to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone, Obama is under pressure to take steps to reassure Americans and allies.
A senior administration official said the United States has made some individual changes in eavesdropping practices but as yet had not made across-the-broad policy changes such as ending intelligence collection that might be aimed at allies.
The official said the White House is considering a ban on intelligence collection aimed at allied leaders. A White House review that Obama ordered after NSA documents were made public by former contractor Edward Snowden is expected to be completed by year's end.
