Suspected BND double agent only exposed thanks to foreign countries?
Grüner sees conditions “like in the Cold War”
Created: 12/28/2022, 1:24 p.m
By: Florian Naumann
According to Konstantin von Notz, Germany must put its security measures in the secret services to the test.
© IMAGO/photo booth / Reuhl
A suspected Russian double agent worries Germany - apparently a partner service had to put the BND on the trail first.
The Greens are calling for reviews.
Berlin/Munich – Apparently, the suspected Russian double agent was only exposed to the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) after a tip from Western countries.
Several weeks ago, an intelligence service discovered data “in the Russian apparatus” that could clearly be assigned to the BND,
Spiegel
reported on Wednesday (December 28), citing its own information.
It was about one or more documents on intelligence about Russia.
Security experts from the BND then managed to identify the leak in their own ranks, the news magazine reported.
The suspect Carsten L. was arrested on December 22nd.
According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, he is said to have "transmitted information that he had obtained in the course of his professional activity to a Russian intelligence service".
WDR and NDR recently reported that the man may have passed on information about the situation in Ukraine – he may have been blackmailed himself.
Double agent from Russia?
Grüner sees secret service activity "like in the days of the Cold War"
In view of such fears in the Ukraine war, the chairman of the parliamentary control body, Konstantin von Notz (Greens), calls for security measures within the intelligence services to be reviewed.
The BND is about a "maximally serious case," von Notz told Deutschlandfunk.
The affair shows that, as in the times of the Cold War, heavy intelligence activities are taking place.
Especially in times when Russia is waging a war of aggression against Ukraine, which violates international law, one must “take very sharp positions”.
Appropriately, former Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a recent interview that the Cold War never ended.
First of all, it is important to wait and see what the investigations of the Federal Public Prosecutor General reveal, said von Notz.
In a second step, however, you have to look at whether the security checks on employees and controls when accessing certain documents are still up to date, whether they need to be tightened up or take place more regularly.
BND concerned about Russia double agent: probably the all-clear for another suspect
The federal prosecutor had stated that the content transmitted by the alleged double agent to Russia was a state secret within the meaning of the criminal code.
The man was taken into custody.
Out of consideration for the ongoing investigations, the BND does not want to comment publicly on the details of the case until further notice.
In the course of the investigation, another BND employee was also targeted by the investigators, writes
Der Spiegel
.
In the meantime, however, it is considered unlikely that this person also worked for a Russian secret service.
It is more likely that the alleged double agent L. tried to divert suspicion from himself.
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The Parliamentary Control Committee is responsible for monitoring the federal intelligence services.
The federal government must inform the committee about the activities of the intelligence services and about events of particular importance.
Last week it was said that the committee would deal with the process at the latest in the new year.
(
dpa/AFP/fn
)
