On 1
December 2016, WikiLeaks released 90 gigabytes of information
relating to the German parliamentary inquiry into the surveillance
activities of Germany's foreign intelligence agency
Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) and its cooperation with the United
States' National Security Agency (NSA).
WikiLeaks
The 2,420
documents originate from various agencies of the German government
including the BND and Federal Office for the Protection of the
Constitution, Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV) and were
submitted to the inquiry last year in response to questions posed by
the committee. They include administrative documents, correspondence,
agreements and press reactions. They also include 125 documents from
the BND, 33 from the BfVand 72 from the Federal Office for
Information Security (BSI).
The
collection offers a detailed insight, not just into the agencies
themselves, but also into the mechanics of the inquiry. Several
documents detail how the agency in question collated the information
that was requested of them. For example, a BND document shows its
preparations for collecting internal information on which private US
companies are operating in the security sector in Germany. Such
internal processes are particularly pertinent to the inquiry. The
committee has been trying (unsuccessfully so far) to gain access to
the full selector list that the BND holds regarding who they spy on
at the behest of the US. The BND is withholding this list from the
inquiry on the grounds that releasing it could imperil the BND's
relationship with the NSA.
Whilst a
number of facts have already come to light as a result of the inquiry
including WikiLeaks’ publication of inquiry transcripts last year
this substantial new collection of primary source documents provides
significant new evidence. The collection contains early agreements
between the BND and the NSA and internal processes at the BND, but
also more recent details on the close collaboration between the two
agencies. For example, one document from the BND states that a BND
employee will be tasked to use and write software for XKeyscore, an
NSA system for searching and analysing data collected through mass
surveillance.
A number of
the documents show how intelligence agencies find ways to work around
their own government. Documents pertaining to an audit visit by
Germany's data protection agency to the BND's offices show that BND
officers withheld the notes made by the auditors during their visit.
The BND would only release the notes to the auditors once they had
checked the content for themselves.
The inquiry
was established in 2014 in the wake of the Snowden revelations, which
showed that not only was the NSA spying on the whole world, but it
had also partnered with the intelligence services of particular
states to spy on their citizens and those of the surrounding regions.
One of these countries is Germany, which has had a close relationship
with the US in military and intelligence matters since its occupation
by US forces in WWII. The US has been shown to use its bases in
Germany and its relationship with German intelligence to spy on
German citizens as well as European Union institutions.
WikiLeaks
revelations of NSA spying on Angela Merkel and top officials at
German ministries, the EU and France also contributed to the
political impetus of the inquiry.
The depth of
this relationship had been unknown to the German public and much of
its government. The outrage that was sparked by the Snowden NSA
revelations led to the establishment of the inquiry, which later
called for Mr Snowden to testify at it. Whereas there was initially
unanimity among German political parties in 2014 for Snowden to
provide expert testimony, the government deemed that guaranteeing
that he would not be handed over to the US (a condition imposed by
Snowden for testifying) would damage Germany's political relationship
with the United States. Subsequently, the Greens and the left-wing
party (Die Linke) filed an official complaint to force the German
Parliament to hear Mr Snowden.
Last week,
on 21 November 2016, Germany's Federal Court of Justice upheld the
complaint and ruled that the committee was obliged to hear Edward
Snowden in person. However, at the next inquiry hearing three days
after the ruling, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Union bloc and the
Social Democrats removed Snowden's invitation from the agenda of the
inquiry and are contesting the Court's decision.
Julian
Assange said: "This substantial body of evidence proves that
the inquiry has been using documents from Mr Snowden and yet it has
been too cowardly to permit him to testify. Germany can not take a
leadership role within the EU if it's own parliamentary processes are
subservient to the wishes of a non EU state."
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