German Intelligence Agency BND Stops Cooperation with NSA on Internet Spying Amid Accusations of Industrial Espionage
As legal action pertaining to industrial espionage has begun in European courts, the German intelligence agency known as the BND has cut off its support for US spying activities.
Reuters reports that the BND will no longer help the US National Security Agency spy on and monitor the Internet. At issue are allegations by corporations like Airbus that the spying activities of the BND on behalf of the NSA has led to industrial espionage. Airbus and others have filed legal motions in order to find out more information about the extent of German and US spying.
From now on, if the NSA would like the BND's help gathering digital information, it must provide a specific justification for each request.
The issue could topple the government of German Chancellor Angela Merkel because she is ultimately responsible for the spy agency's actions. A top aide of hers recently gave testimony to the German parliament that suggested he either knew of the spying and covered it up, or was grossly incompetent in his duties.
Merkel is also threatened by this new scandal because of how strongly she reacted to the fact the NSA was spying on the German government and her own private conversations. To speak so strongly against such spying while also engaging in it against institutions like the French Foreign Ministry is perceived by many to be hypocritical.
The political opposition in Germany has demanded the Merkel release details regarding what kind of information the NSA asked the BND to collect.
