German Panel to Question Executives Over NSA Spy Report

German parliamentary investigators plan to question executives of telecommunications operators about reports that U.S. and U.K. intelligence gained direct access to networks of companies including Deutsche Telekom AG.

Managers of network providers since 2001 will be asked to testify because the reported acts, if confirmed, would constitute statutory offenses, said Christian Flisek, a Social Democratic lawmaker who sits on the parliamentary investigative committee in the lower house. He didn’t name any individuals. Roderich Kiesewetter, a committee member from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, said the reports have to be taken “very seriously.”