Tuesday, May 05, 2015

Germans, still outraged by NSA spying, learn their country may have helped...

The uproar shaking the halls of power here could aptly be titled, “NSA Scandal II: The Sequel.” But in this latest spy drama, the nefarious Americans have a co-conspirator: the recalcitrant German intelligence service.

Outrage in Germany over American snooping erupted in 2013, after data released by whistleblower Edward Snowden disclosed U.S. surveillance of friendly European targets up to and including Chancellor Angela Merkel. But fresh revelations suggest that the Bundesnachrichtendienst — Berlin’s foreign intelligence arm, also known as the BND — may have separately aided U.S. agents with snooping on hundreds of European companies, regional entities and politicians. The targets, according to a report in the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung on Thursday, included French and European Commission officials.

The new disclosures center on a list of 2,000 suspicious “selectors” — including phone numbers, IP addresses and e-mails — provided by the United States and plugged into German intelligence data systems that the Germans later determined exceeded the operation’s mandate. The German government has privately acknowledged the existence of the list to select lawmakers but has not clarified the targets, according to one of the parliamentarians briefed on the issue but who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the briefing was classified.

After the Snowden disclosures, Merkel berated Washington by saying that spying on friends is “a no-go.” The new revelations are now rocking the government to its core. A bevy of German lawmakers is demanding answers to highly uncomfortable questions, some aimed at top figures in Merkel’s cabinet. Next week, they will summon intelligence officials before two parliamentary committees to testify; some are even threatening to call Merkel. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Germany 'spied' on top French officials for US...
  2. US 'threatened' Germany over Snowden asylum...
  3. Spying together: Germany's deep cooperation with the NSA...
  4. Germany expels CIA station chief in Berlin over US spying row...
  5. Barack Obama 'approved tapping Angela Merkel's phone 3 years ago'
  6. German intelligence service is as bad as the NSA...
  7. Merkel denied access to own NSA file...

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