Spying among friends? Sadly, it’s the norm

From 2012 to 2014, Germany’s northern neighbour is said to have assisted the National Security Agency (NSA) in spying on the electronic communications of prominent German politicians: Chancellor Angela Merkel, Frank-Walter Steinmeier — then foreign minister, now German president — and Peer Steinbrück, the Social Democrats’ chancellor candidate in the 2013 election.

Thanks to Edward Snowden, it has been common knowledge for some time that the NSA had targeted Merkel and Steinmeier. His 2013 revelations sent shockwaves around the world. It was always obvious that secret service agencies, even those of democratic states, are not simply harmless associations. But the degree of ruthlessness and lack of scruple astonished even political heavyweights like Angela Merkel, a victim of the NSA’s surveillance. Her comment at the time — “Spying among friends is unacceptable” — has become a familiar bon mot. Because, in reality, anything goes. Spying knows no limits, either moral or geographical.

We can and should continue to be outraged at the way the NSA, Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND), and others of their ilk effectively write their own rules. However, since the Snowden revelations at the very latest, this reaction — while all too understandable — seems downright naive. It would be much more important for the political leaders in Germany, Denmark and all other countries that practice the separation of powers to finally exercise better control over their intelligence services. Unfortunately, this looks as unlikely as ever.

In Germany, a parliamentary investigative committee spent years looking into the NSA/BND scandal, but the outcome was scandalous and shameful. The reform led to the legalisation of the illegal wire-tapping practice, which had only became common knowledge as a result of Snowden’s information. Fortunately, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court proved it could be relied on: It quashed this shameless and false relabeling in 2020.

Anyone who wants to understand how the United States, Germany and democratic Europe tick with regard to intelligence services need only look at Snowden’s fate. Since making his unprecedented revelations, he has been living in exile in Russia. The fact that Vladimir Putin, the strongman in the Kremlin and a former Soviet secret service (KGB) officer, has to hold his protective hand over Snowden is and remains an indictment of the West.

And unfortunately, there is nothing whatsoever to indicate this might change. Because the 37-year-old American’s opponents on both sides of the Atlantic are in agreement: In their eyes, he is a traitor. This was the opinion of former US President Barack Obama, who was in office when Snowden made his revelations; and the current president, Joe Biden, shares the same view.

There have been no reports of Merkel, Steinmeier, or other German victims of the NSA insulting the whistle-blower in the same way — but the controversial former president of Germany’s domestic intelligence service, Hans-Georg Maassen, has done so. It is people like him, and their ideal of the intelligence services remaining largely uncontrolled, that stand in the way of a radical culture change in this area. This will remain the case for as long as they still have enough support from legislators and governments — and it will have to change before Snowden can hope to leave his dubious exile in Russia.