CIA head to be expelled from Germany

The chief US Central Intelligence Agency officer in Germany is to be expelled in a sign of Berlin's anger at two cases of possible US espionage uncovered in the past week, a senior German legislator says.

Chancellor Angela Merkel declined to confirm on Thursday the impending move, which would be an act of diplomatic hostility unprecedented in the seven decades the two nations have been the closest of allies.

"I am not going to speculate," she told reporters.

"When we have a sufficient factual basis ... we will decide what can be done. I can't offer more precise information than that."

The intention to ask the head of the CIA's Germany station to leave was disclosed by Clemens Binninger, chief of the German parliament's intelligence committee, after his group received a confidential briefing from intelligence officials in Berlin.