Outside the Bundestag, the German Parliament, a man takes part
in a protest
demanding asylum for Edward Snowden: News that the United States
had been
using a double agent to spy on the Bundestag's
NSA Committee of Inquiry has
brought renewed calls to give Snowden safe haven in the country.
Bundestag's NSA Investigators Blast Music - Just to be Safe! (Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Germany)
"A Bundesnachrichtendienst
employee has allegedly been spying for the Americans. ...Does anyone in the government or in the German intelligence
service know what the American NSA and British GCHQ are up to? How do we defend
ourselves against all this spying? ... Before the secret session of the NSA
Committee of Inquiry's hearing on Thursday began, a big metal box was set up
where all cell phones and tablet computers were to be placed, and Committee Chairmain Patrick Sensburg turned
on some music. Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor was
heard - just to be safe."
By John Goetz, Hans Leyendecker, Georg Mascolo, and
Frederick Obermaier
William Binney, the National Security Agency's chief technical officer before blowing the whistle on out-of-control mass surveillance in 2001, testifies before the Bundestag on what he called the 'totalitarian' nature of the agency's operations,
July 3.
A Bundesnachrichtendienst [BND]
employee has allegedly been spying for the Americans - although the Americans
are supposed to be partners of the German intelligence services. Now, though,
levels suspicion are so high among German lawmakers that they only discuss the
NSA under exceptionally secure circumstances.
The
authorizing document for the Bundestag's NSA Committee
of Inquiry is one of perplexity: It consists of nearly 30 key questions on five
pages. In sum, the most important questions are: Does anyone in the government
or in the German intelligence service know what the American NSA and British GCHQ
are up to? To what extent is Germany affected by specific surveillance
operations? How do we defend ourselves against all this spying?
There
is one expert who could help us find some answers: His name is Edward Snowden,
and he sits in Moscow on temporary asylum. But the German government doesn't
want him to come to Germany - because he will probably want to stay, and from
the perspective of the federal government, that would create lots of trouble
with our partners in the United States. There is also an organization that
could answer all of these questions easily: The NSA. It would probably know
what it gets up to. However, the American spies are unlikely to provide any
enlightening explanations. After all, secret services are called secret
services because they keep their secrets to themselves.
Given
this situation, it is almost comical that the NSA, allegedly with the help of a
German agent, wanted to learn what the NSA Committee of Inquiry is up to. What
it still wants to know, and what it has already been told - by whomever. At
their last meeting, they asked their agent how the BND feels about the
Committee, and what documents it would be sending Berlin.
What's come over
the U.S. intelligence agencies?
Regardless
of the bizarre facts, this case has to be taken seriously because the
investigating judge,at the request of
the public prosecutor, has told the Federal Courts there is strong suspicion
that an offence has been committed. He says that given the results of his
investigation, there is substantial likelihood that the accused either
perpetrated a crime himself or assisted others in doing so. Even more serious,
however, is the fact that this is alleged to have been going on for years. What
has come over the American intelligence services that makes them so interested
in the investigative work of German - and what is making them risk so damned
much for it?
The
Americans are the friends and partners of the German intelligence services.
They work on projects together, share spying techniques, and sometimes the BND
or the Office for
the Protection of the Constitution pass data onto the Americans. Of
course, the German services assure us, it's always completely within the law.
That is the one element of reality for the intelligence services. The other is:
In this business, there really are no "friends." One is interested in
knowing about anyone and everything, and the Americans are peeved by the desire
of Germans for more transparency on the NSA affair. They apparently see the NSA
Committee of Inquiry as an attack - and attacks by their very nature demand a
defense.
Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor
Around
400 NSA files are being reviewed by the Committee, and in June, the BND also
provided information. Presumably, archivists have collated the many press
reports about the NSA. Classified for internal use only, as it should be. The
organizational charts and file directories for the BND
were also provided so Committee members could understand how and where the BND cooperates with its U.S. partners.
If
Committee members want to view these materials, they need to enter a classified
area in a highly secure room. The organizational charts are registered under
the number 02/14.Secret.
A few press
reports and organizational charts: that can't be all there is
The
German intelligence services have been in a state of alert for weeks. They
apparently fear that this could attract foreign intelligence services
interested in all these secret banalities and internal formalities. In the last
few days, President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the
Constitution Hans-Georg
Maassen met with a series of committee members. He warned them of
the necessity of expecting targeted surveillance - by whomever. Encrypted
mobile phones were distributed to the chairman of the committee chairs for encrypted communication.
They were also urged to move to the Jakob-Kaiser-Haus near the
Reichstag, where the walls should probably be covered with sheets of aluminum.
This would at least protect against outside eavesdropping.
Before
the secret session of the NSA Committee of Inquiry's hearing on Thursday began,
a big metal box was set up where all cell phones and tablet computers were to
be placed, and Committee Chairmain Patrick Sensburg turned on some music. Edvard
Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor was heard - just to be safe.
