Germany’s NBD restricts cooperation with NSA: Reports
Germany’s foreign intelligence agency has reportedly restricted intelligence cooperation with the US National Security Agency (NSA) amid a recent scandal over alleged joint spying by the two organizations against European officials.
According to German media reports, Bundesnachrichtendienst, commonly known by its acronym BND, started demanding that the NSA provide a justification for each online surveillance request this week.
Citing sources close to a German parliamentary inquiry into the allegations, national daily Süddeutsche Zeitung and other German media said the BND stopped sharing internet surveillance data with the American agency after it failed to provide the required explanation.
Such a rule had long been in place for phone and fax surveillance, which Berlin continues to share with the NSA.
Konstantin von Notz, the German Green Party ombudsman in the parliamentary committee investigating revelations of NSA spying by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, welcomed the move, saying it was an acknowledgement that the operation was out of control.
“This is certainly a drastic step. It’s like pulling the emergency rip cord, because even in the year 2015, they’re still not able to control these search terms for internet traffic,” he said.
He also accused the government in Berlin of failing to protect German and European interests.
On April 30, a report surfaced that the BND had helped the NSA carry out “political espionage” on high-ranking French officials and the European Commission.
Merkel defiance
On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended her country’s intelligence agency over its cooperation with the US to spy on EU countries and entities.
“In the face of international terrorism threats, they can only do this in cooperation with other intelligence agencies – and that includes first and foremost the NSA,” said Merkel during her first public comments on the spying scandal.
She said, however, that she would fully cooperate with a parliamentary investigation committee probing the accusations.
In 2013, Snowden blew the whistle on the agency, revealing that Washington had been conducting massive internet and phone data spying on “friendly countries and their leaders,” including Germany itself.
DB/HJL
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