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German Intelligence Helped NSA Spy On EU Politicians and Companies
An anonymous reader writes: We've known for some time already that intelligence agencies operate beyond rules, laws, and regulations. Now, we learn that the NSA and the German intelligence service, BND, lied and withheld information about misuse from the German Chancellor's Office.
"The BND realized as early as 2008 that some of the selectors were not permitted according to its internal rules, or covered by a 2002 US-Germany anti-terrorism "Memorandum of Agreement" on intelligence cooperation. And yet it did nothing to check the NSA's requests systematically. It was only in the summer of 2013, after Edward Snowden's revelations of massive NSA and GCHQ surveillance, that the BND finally started an inquiry into all the selectors that had been processed. According to Der Spiegel, investigators found that the BND had provided information on around 2,000 selectors that were clearly against European and German interests. Not only were European businesses such as the giant aerospace and defense company EADS, best-known as the manufacturer of the Airbus planes, targeted, so were European politicians—including German ones.
However, the BND did not inform the German Chancellor's office, which only found out about the misuse of the selector request system in March 2015. Instead, the BND simply asked the NSA to make requests that were fully covered by the anti-terrorism agreement between the two countries. According to Die Zeit, this was because the BND was worried that the NSA might curtail the flow of its own intelligence data to the German secret services if the selector scheme became embroiled in controversy.
"The BND realized as early as 2008 that some of the selectors were not permitted according to its internal rules, or covered by a 2002 US-Germany anti-terrorism "Memorandum of Agreement" on intelligence cooperation. And yet it did nothing to check the NSA's requests systematically. It was only in the summer of 2013, after Edward Snowden's revelations of massive NSA and GCHQ surveillance, that the BND finally started an inquiry into all the selectors that had been processed. According to Der Spiegel, investigators found that the BND had provided information on around 2,000 selectors that were clearly against European and German interests. Not only were European businesses such as the giant aerospace and defense company EADS, best-known as the manufacturer of the Airbus planes, targeted, so were European politicians—including German ones.
However, the BND did not inform the German Chancellor's office, which only found out about the misuse of the selector request system in March 2015. Instead, the BND simply asked the NSA to make requests that were fully covered by the anti-terrorism agreement between the two countries. According to Die Zeit, this was because the BND was worried that the NSA might curtail the flow of its own intelligence data to the German secret services if the selector scheme became embroiled in controversy.
it we don't reign this in no one will be free.
German intelligence has been interested in a closer alliance with the "Five Eyes" group of US-led intelligence agencies, which originally consisted of the main anglophone countries (US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand). When it was expanded in 2009 to "nine eyes" with the addition of Denmark, France, Netherlands, and Norway, there was supposedly some grumbling from Germany about being left out.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
And when the NSA needs help interpreting intercepted technical data, for example, it subcontracts with local 'domain experts'. In the aviation biz, that would be Boeing. So Airbus, good luck with those bids for aircraft sales.
If you think that a large part of what the NSA and CIA do isn't plain old economic espionage, I've got swamp land in Florida to sell you.
Have gnu, will travel.
NSA: hey guise we need you to spy on some folks for us, no biggie. ...verdammt noch mal.
BND: should we check these targets to make sure, you know, no crazy treaties might get everyone in trouble?
NSA: Nah we're cool we checked them first.
Snowden: No you didn't.
BND: uh....what
NSA: HAH! never mind that guy hes such a kidder
Glen Greenwald: Uh...no he isnt...not according to this press release.
BND:
Good people go to bed earlier.
This is why they didn't make a bigger deal of the Angela Merkel eavesdropping by the US. They were doing the same thing.
Damn, lots of Stasi victims are still of working age even. You'd hope the Germans had developed more antibodies against this crap.
To say NSA lied is not supported by the articles linked in the summary. We have enough to criticize NSA about without exaggerating the facts to fit our desire to believe it is a monolithically monstrous organization whose agents use the U.S. Constitution for toilet paper. And when we go beyond the facts, any legitimate criticism is diluted, because what we say is easily swept aside as a pile of prejudice from conspiracy theorists.
The BND didn't do its job of actually reviewing the selectors. Much like U.S. congressional and judicial oversight both failed to reign in controversial NSA programs. I can't help but wonder sometimes what the Americans at NSA think about all this. Call me heretical, but I bet at least some of them are motivated by a desire to thwart the next 9/11, and want to do so in the right way, too. But intelligence is a contact sport, and laws and executive orders are often ambiguous. So are they like the athletes that have to ratchet up the aggression until the officials start calling penalties before the limits are truly known?
is just grown up male children playing games, the value of intelligence agencies is, if not nil or negative, orders of magnitude less than their funding. I really don't understand the respect they get in the USA especially. They can't predict shit, and they never have, either. Fall of the Soviet Union? Nope. 911? Nope. Pakistan gets the bomb? Saddam doesn't have the bomb? Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nothing important. Not ever. The only thing they are good at is bafflegabbing congress critters and advancing their careers.
They are traitors and should be jailed. In fact, since they believe they're involved in a "war on terror", maybe we should try them for treason under military law.
Also, I wouldn't trust the statement that the chancellors office didn't know anything.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
"Burn them all."
-- Aerys II Targaryen
"However, the BND did not inform the German Chancellor's office,"
Can you say plausible deniability?
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
How would the NSA not have knowledge of national treaties? Both the NSA and BND knew full well what they were doing was wrong and went ahead with it anyways.
Instead of having to spy on the EU themselves, the NSA hires BND to do it for them. Super. Actually, a satire magazine in Germany might have an answer to that why the BND spied on the EU and told the Us its findings. The job of the BND is called Auslandsaufklärung which can be misunderstood as enlighten foreign countries instead of be enlightened about foreign countries. As they have acted dumb before, it is possible that this is the correct solution and they are not a bunch of illegal, uncontrolled traitors. BTW their budget increased in recent years while all others shrunk. The bitter truth is that most likely the present German foreign minister knew about that and so did chancellor Merkel and they will get away with that treason.
The US gov may ally with other govs, but the intelligence agencies ally with intelligence agencies.
Few of the gov's in the world work for their citizens' interests, few of the intelligence agencies work for the gov's interests.
Intelligence collection rules are not international treaties. They are national laws and regulations, and some are secret.
" European businesses such as the giant aerospace and defense company EADS, best-known as the manufacturer of the Airbus planes, targeted, so were European politicians"
Why would you spy on private companies and your allies? The only reason that comes to my mind is economic gain... The NSA, etc serve economic interests, not safety.
Hay, the GDR loves Benjamins and with unmarked bills ... sweet!