The US and German security agencies have reportedly stumbled over a bilateral treaty which would stop the US spying on the German government. According to local media reports, Washington has failed to meet Berlin’s key demands.
Tuesday’s edition of Süddeutsche Zeitung daily came out with the headline ‘The Americans lied to us’. The German daily was quoting an unnamed high-ranking local official who claimed that even in the wake of the recent scandal, when it emerged that the NSA had been tapping the mobile telephone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the White House would not promise to stop listening to German politicians’ phone calls.
Later in the day, Germany dismissed reports that the talks were close to collapse. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere stated that they were proceeding, but failed to directly comment on the report, according to Reuters.
In October Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, where phone
tapping was common practice, compared the NSA’s spying to that of
the Stasi secret police in the former German Democratic Republic.
Documents leaked by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed
that the NSA allegedly ran a listening station from the US
Embassy in Berlin.
According to Süddeutsche and a report on public broadcaster NDR,
during the negotiations the US officials were expected to give
German counterparts access to the alleged listening station,
believed to be on the top floor of the US embassy in Berlin, and
to shed light on how long Merkel’s phone had been monitored and
whether she was Germany's only key politician to be targeted.
Süddeutsche has quoted a "German expert familiar with the
state of the negotiations" as saying "we're getting
nothing."
As a result, according to the newspaper, the head of Germany’s
foreign intelligence agency (BND) Gerhard Schindler stated that
if things don't improve, he would prefer not to sign the deal at
all.
In the wake of the scandal which provoked public outrage in
Germany, Berlin demanded "an immediate and comprehensive
explanation" about what it said was "a serious breach of
trust."
"Among close friends and partners, as the Federal Republic of
Germany and the US have been for decades, there should be no such
monitoring of the communications of a head of government,"
Berlin said a statement, while Angela Merkel told Barack Obama
that "such practices must be prevented immediately." She
phoned the US President to demand personal apologies and
explanations.
However, according to Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper,
President Obama was aware of NSA spying on German Chancellor
Angela Merkel. Citing US intelligence sources, the newspaper
claimed that NSA chief Keith Alexander briefed Obama on the
bugging operation against Merkel back in 2010.
To defend the NSA’s activities, the Obama administration has
chosen to justify its mass espionage operations as being in the
interests of national security. In December the UN General
Assembly unanimously called on a curb of supernormal surveillance
of communications, however.
Germany and Brazil proposed the resolution after they learnt that
the US was intercepting the communications of both Brazil's
President Dilma Rousseff and Germany’s Merkel. All 193 UN member
states agreed "to respect and protect the right to privacy,
including in the context of digital communication." Although
the UN General Assembly resolution is not legally binding, it
represents the international opinion on the issue and holds
political weight.