I cant see how this threat would be effective. The U.S. would simply be forcing Germany - the most powerful member of the E.U and it's defacto leader - to strike up alliances elsewhere. It would possibly force the E.U. to bolster it's own intelligence gathering outfits to mitigate the dependance on U.S intelligence.
Either that, or Germany would just shrug it's shoulders and resign itself to the fact that it wasn't going to get any of the "good" intel anymore... which seems unlikely to me.
So I think we're safe to assume that the "threat" was for the sake of keeping up appearances.
Either that, or Germany would just shrug it's shoulders and resign itself to the fact that it wasn't going to get any of the "good" intel anymore... which seems unlikely to me.
So I think we're safe to assume that the "threat" was for the sake of keeping up appearances.