Exclusive
Status: 04/21/2023 06:00 a.m
Telephone calls, e-mails, chats – almost all of the BND’s surveillance actions have apparently been approved by the new Independent Control Council. This is based on research by WDR and NDR out.
The horseshoe-shaped building is located directly on the Spree in Alt-Moabit. Two multi-story glass towers tower over the river. The home of the Federal Ministry of the Interior used to be here in the so-called “Spreebogen”. That’s why there are still tap-proof rooms here in which secret things can be discussed. Something that is also very important to those who are now renting.
It has been clear for a few weeks now that the Independent Control Council (UK Council) is to move into the property near the government district. It is a publicly little-known federal agency that has only been around for about a year – but whose power is quite great.
At the beginning of 2022, the UK Council was created to control the global surveillance measures of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND). Now, according to research by WDR and NDR submitted a written report on BND surveillance for the first time. In the approximately 60-page document, the members of the Parliamentary Control Committee (PKGr) of the Bundestag can get an idea of how the UK Council monitored and evaluated the wiretapping operations of the BND last year. The short version reads: Almost every surveillance measure requested by the BND is said to have been allowed.
The paper apparently states that 121 surveillance measures had been checked, including, for example, phone calls and radio messages that had been tapped or e-mails that had been read. However, this should also include hacking operations in which the BND penetrates mobile phone chats and other online communication.
54 percent of the measures strategic reconnaissance
54 percent of the BND measures from the past year are said to relate to strategic reconnaissance, i.e. sifting through data streams with certain search terms called selectors. Another 40 percent of the spying actions are said to have affected individuals who were specifically monitored. The remaining six percent are said to have been “qualified reconnaissance measures” – meaning complex surveillance, for example using spy software on computers or mobile phones.
When asked, the UK Council declined to comment on its activity report. A spokeswoman said the agency’s reports were classified by law.
The UK Council was set up by the federal government after the Federal Constitutional Court decided that the BND’s technical reconnaissance measures should be monitored more strictly than before. Therefore, a so-called preliminary check by a court-like body was introduced.
The judges now have to approve in advance if the foreign secret service wants to monitor a telephone or e-mail connection or search a data cable for specific search terms. The UK Council’s OK must be obtained – at any time of the day or night.
BND apparently cooperative
The BND has always been cooperative, the secret service inspectors are said to write in their report. The foreign secret service had granted extensive access to documents, data and technology. The inspectors were apparently also able to see the selectors of foreign partner services with which the BND searches worldwide communication.
This is a novelty and a consequence of Edward Snowden’s espionage revelations: in the past, the search terms of the US NSA or the British eavesdropping service GCHQ were said to have been encrypted in such a way that not even the BND itself knew which cell phone number or e-mail address it was.
The UK Council is said to have objected to a surveillance action in only one case: it is said to have been about a “legal entity” in Germany, i.e. a company whose connections abroad should be clarified. The BND wanted to monitor the company’s telephone lines and e-mail addresses – but according to the inspectors, this is not covered by the BND law.
Therefore, individual target persons would have had to be named for measures, for whom monitoring would have had to be requested. The UK Council apparently considered it problematic that the originally planned action would not have been legally permitted – and points out that the law would have to be changed for this.
Justify each wiretapping action in writing
The secret service must justify every wiretapping action in writing beforehand. For BND employees, this means legal certainty. But also a considerable additional effort. They discuss, sometimes for pages, why the communication on a certain data cable should be trawled through or why a foreign terrorist, arms dealer or politician is of interest.
Even before the council began its work in January 2022, there was great concern within the BND: Too much bureaucracy could paralyze the investigation work. Apparently some feel confirmed in the foreign intelligence service. In the BND, the frustration about the additional work involved in applying for surveillance campaigns is said to be great.
Especially in the department of technical reconnaissance in Pullach. The mood in the service, which has recently undergone major reform and internal restructuring, is said to be anything but good.