US spokesman responds to spy claims

One of the hot potatoes in the WikiLeaks release of diplomatic cables has been the revelation that the US state department ordered its staff to illegally obtain DNA from UN diplomats.

One cable apparently instructs diplomatic staff to attempt to hack into people's accounts at the UN.

But PJ Crowley, the state department spokesman, tells Al Jazeera that the day-to-day activities of the US diplomats at the UN "were fully consistent with our values and our laws".