German Federal Police Helicopter Circles US Consulate

New submitter mwissel writes "The German Federal Police ('Bundespolizei') had sent out an helicopter in late August to fly over the U.S. consulate in Frankfurt and take photos from only 60 meters height — reportedly to search for spy antennae and other espionage related equipment on the building rooftops. A government spokesmen more or less confirmed the purpose of the flight, and it is said that Merkel's chief of staff, Ronald Pofalla, gave the order. This is remarkable, because Pofalla so far stood out with a very U.S.-friendly attitude in the debate around NSA surveillance programs. There was, of course, no word about any findings. It also remains unclear whether this was just plain provocation or a PR-stunt for the upcoming federal elections in Germany on September 22nd."

Comments

Re:This is how

[Dahamma]

Hostile country? Yeah. US goals are most definitely to undermine German sovereignty, not spend untold billions of dollars to protect and build them up from the ashes of their genocidal fascist state into one of the most powerful democratic capitalist countries in the world.

Jeez. US foreign policy is currently very aggressive and somewhat paranoid, but don't pretend Germany isn't where they are today because of US support (yes, largely to counter Russian expansion in Eastern Europe, but don't look a gift horse in the mouth...)

Re: Of course it's a PR stunt

[Anonymous Coward]

An US embassy is NOT US territory.

It's still German territory. You have no clue.