U.S. National Security Agency (NSA)Director General Keith Alexander Tuesday defended the agency's spying operations on European allies in a hearing before the Congress.

U.S. National Security Agency Director General Keith Alexander

Top U.S. intelligence officials testified before the U.S. Congress following recent media reports about U.S. spying on European allies, including millions of citizens in France and Spain and Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"It is much more important for this country that we defend this nation and take the beatings than it is to give up a program that would result in this nation being attacked," Alexander responded to criticism of his agency's spying acitivities.

He believed that what his agency does "is bring back more U.S. soldiers, airmen and Marines" alive from danger.

"We see the threats coming at this nation," Alexander said.

"We see what neither the CIA nor FBI could see" before 9/11, Alexander said. "We help them connect the dots."

Speaking at the same hearing, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said "As long as I've been in the intelligence business, 50 years, leadership intentions in whatever form that's expressed is kind of a basic tenet of what we are to collect and analyze."

He argued that foreign allies also conducts spying on US officials and intelligence agencies.

Clapper said the NSA and the U.S. intelligence community do not spy indiscriminately on citizens of any country.

"We do not spy on anyone except for valid foreign intelligence purposes," he added.

Clapper also warned Congress not to overreact to the media disclosures and thus undermine counterterrorism programs.

"We must remain mindful of the potential impact of over-correcting the authorization of the intelligence community," he said.

Alexander denied the reports that the NSA has tapped tens of millions of phone calls in France, Spain, Italy, saying that such reports are "completely false."

He said some of the data collected were "provided to NSA by foreign partners."

"To be perfectly clear, this is not information that we collected on European citizens. It represents information that we, and our NATO allies, have collected in defense of our countries and in support of military operations," he said.

American allies in Europe have been in an uproar over the media reports that U.S. intelligence agencies have monitored the communications of Merkel and tens of millions of phone calls in France and Spain.

U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, one of the defenders of the U.S. intelligence surveillance programs, announced that the panel will initiate "a major review" into all U.S. intelligence programs.

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