Germany Spied on EU, NATO until 2013: Report
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – German intelligence spied on dozens of EU and NATO government figures and hundreds of diplomatic missions until October 2013, a report said.
The German DPA news agency cited a document from the Bundestag’s Parliamentary Control Panel (PKGr), which provides parliamentary oversight for Germany’s foreign intelligence, RT reported.
A “low two-figure number of people” belonging to foreign governments were snooped on until October 2013, the report said.
It is not yet clear when exactly the snooping started.
The paper says that BND surveilled government figures from EU and NATO states. Among them were heads of state, heads of government and ministers, the DPA added.
The intelligence also looked at EU and NATO military facilities.
According to the DPA, “dozens” of such cases were mentioned in the report.
Diplomatic missions of EU and NATO member states across the globe were reportedly the focus, making up more than two-thirds of all BND’s 3,300 targets. BND also snooped on a double-digit number of non-governmental and economic organizations.
Examples of BND spying activities include snooping on aerospace, the arms trade, transportation and media sectors, according to the paper.
The DPA says it is unclear how exactly the intelligence agency spied on the media sector.
The report is not the first to disclose that German intelligence spied on other countries, including its allies. In April, Der Spiegel revealed Germany had spied on the US State Department, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, the UK’s Ministry of Defense, NASA and the US Air Force.
German espionage programs reportedly targeted some departments of Austria and Belgium’s Interior Ministries, as well as at least two subdivisions of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) and helicopter maker Eurocopter Group.
OPEC, the International Monetary Fund and the UN International Drug Control Program were also among the BND’s targets.
Earlier in 2015, Der Spiegel reported that German espionage programs targeted interior ministries in Poland, Denmark and Croatia, US diplomatic missions at the EU and UN, the US Treasury Department and Department of the Interior in Washington.
BND has already been accused of eavesdropping on officials at the French Foreign Ministry and presidency, as well as the European Commission. Spiegel Online earlier claimed Germany’s snooping was mostly done on behalf of its US counterpart – the National Security Agency (NSA).
In 2013, when mass surveillance was first disclosed to the global community by former NSA employee Edward Snowden, Germany expressed outrage.
“Spying on friends is not acceptable,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose mobile phone had also been tapped by the NSA, said when the scandal broke.
