Though the investigation is still ongoing, German politicians already have begun to announce their outrage in the most recent U.S. spying allegations. Last Wednesday, July 2, a German man was arrested after it was believed that he had been cooperating with foreign-intelligence agencies. An employee of the German foreign-intelligence agency, or BND, came to the attention of the federal German authorities after trying to sell classified documents to the Russians. Once interrogated though, the unnamed worker has reportedly admitted to selling German classified documents to U.S. intelligence.
“If this is true, then I believe we are dealing with a very serious development, I would see this as a clear contradiction to what I understand as trusting cooperation of intelligence services as well as of partners,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The news would be especially troubling since it has become widely known that the NSA wiretapped German officials, as revealed by Edward Snowden.
According to the investigators, the man admitted to working for the U.S. for the last two years. With access to the BND mail room, the man was apparently able to transfer 218 documents via a flash drive, collecting as much as $35,000 along the way. Patrick Sensburg, chairman of a parliamentary inquiry into NSA surveillance in Germany, has confirmed that some of the documents transferred to the U.S. were directly related to the case he is investigating.
The U.S. has yet to make any specific remarks relating to the case. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said, “We’re going to work with the Germans to resolve this issue appropriately.” He continued to explain that the U.S. values its relationship with Germany. If the allegations really are true, the U.S. government is going to have a harder time than they already are at convincing allies to trust them.
Chancellor Merkel will now face even greater pressure than she already has. Germany’s leader has disappointed many within the country after not strongly confronting the U.S. after the NSA scandal became common knowledge. Now she will be forced to act, but will likely wait until the most recent accusation of spying has been officially confirmed.
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