The German federal government ordered the American intelligence chief at the Berlin embassy out of the country as the latest development in the Germany-U.S. spying issue.

German investigators interviewed a defense ministry employee suspected of collaborating with U.S. intelligence agents. The incident comes a week after a foreign intelligence service (BND) officer admitted selling classified documents to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), The Irish Times detailed.

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The revelations took place a year after U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) whistle-blower Edward Snowden leaked the surveillance activities of the U.S. German officials still have not figured out how and why the U.S. is spying on them.

In a statement, government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said the German federal government ordered the U.S. intelligence station representative in the U.S. embassy in Berlin to leave the country. The order was made in connection to the reported U.S. intelligence activities in Germany.

Last week, a 31-year-old BND agent in Munich reportedly offered to sell 218 classified files to an American agent for €25,000 (US$35,000). German officials arrested the agent after he made the same offer to Russia. During the interview with investigators last Wednesday, he said he was cooperating with an undercover CIA official in the U.S. embassy.

Yesterday, a report erupted about a second double agent in Germany and investigators confirmed questioning a defense ministry employee suspected of being a secret agent. German authorities searched his home and seized his computers and storage gadgets.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today spying on an ally is a "waste of energy" and that they should instead focus on more pressing problems. These words mark Merkel's strongest reactions to the recent Germany-U.S. spying issue.

Germany already declared that it does not conduct surveillance on its allies and that it considers this act unacceptable.

TagsGermany-US spying issue, US intelligence, CIA, double agent