Germany spied on the White House in Washington for years
The German weekly Der Spiegel has reported that it has information showing that Germany's foreign intelligence service has spied on thousands of targets in the United States in recent years. One of these targets was the White House.
Politicians and security officials in Germany have consistently emphasized that the United States is an indispensable partner in the fight against international terrorism. Recently, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere emphasized that transatlantic cooperation is of utmost importance to Germany.
Spiegel wrote that it seems that this cooperation between Germany and the United States has not been very trusting for a long time, because, according to the weekly, the German foreign intelligence service has been spying on many targets in the United States for many years.
The weekly wrote that it had seen documents and information that showed that between 1998 and 2006, around 4,000 search terms were targeted by German intelligence operations targeting American targets. So far, only the apparent spying by the German intelligence service on the US National Intelligence Agency (NSA) has caused anger and dismay among Americans.
"Spying among friends" also takes place!
The US National Intelligence Agency itself was tapping the mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which was revealed in the revelations of Edward Snowden, a former employee of the US security services. Mrs Merkel responded at the time by saying: "Spying between friends should never happen."
Spiegel wrote that German spy documents on American institutions show that “spying between friends” was also carried out. The report says that just as the US intelligence agency spied on Germans, the German intelligence service saw no obstacle to spying on American institutions.
The list of American institutions with which the German intelligence service had connections and collected classified information includes, in addition to the White House, the US Treasury Department and the US State Department. Of course, the White House was at the forefront of all these espionage targets.
Major American companies have also been targets of espionage.
In addition, the German Foreign Intelligence Service has been tapping the phones, faxes, and emails of American companies such as Lockheed Martin, the NASA space agency, the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, and universities in a large number of American states.
Communications from military institutions such as the US Air Force, Navy, or military intelligence agencies have also been other targets of espionage by the German foreign intelligence service.
Spiegel wrote in its report that information exchanges between more than 100 foreign embassies in the United States and international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the Arab League office in the United States were among the targets of espionage by the German foreign intelligence service.
The German Foreign Intelligence Service and its head, Bruno Kahl, have declined to comment or take a position on the Spiegel report.
Apparently, the US National Intelligence Agency has established a commission of inquiry into the spying operations of the German foreign intelligence service in the United States, and the commission's report will soon be considered in the German parliament.
The report states, among other things, that the German coalition government attaches almost no importance to the story of the German intelligence service's espionage operations in the United States.
Source: DW
