POLITICAL FALLOUT

Meanwhile, the United States continues to deal with the political fallout from its global spy program.

Israeli officials Sunday called for an end to U.S. spying on Israel, Washington's closest Middle East ally, after it was revealed that the NSA gained access to emails from Israeli leadership.

The demands came on the heels of the release of documents that Snowden leaked and published last week by the media, which revealed that British intelligence worked alongside the NSA between 2008 and 2011 to gain access to email addresses of the offices of former Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

As for whether Obama knew U.S. intelligence agencies were monitoring U.S. allies, the NSA denied that the president had any knowledge.

However, Foreign Policy magazine argued in a recent article that it would be impossible for Obama not to know about the NSA's snooping on allies, although he might not have been aware of the details.