secret services
Experts: BND capabilities too severely curtailed
Invited guests follow the opening of the visitor center of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND). photo
© Wolfgang Kumm/dpa
Ampel representatives accuse the Federal Intelligence Service of having informed too late about the uprising of the Wagner mercenaries in Russia. Practitioners disagree.
After the armed uprising by the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, against Russian President Vladimir Putin a week ago, criticism of the BND allegedly informing the federal government too late became louder. The news portal “The Pioneer” reported that the SPD was thinking about replacing BND President Bruno Kahl, who has been in charge of the service since 2016.
The federal government rejected speculation about Kahl’s replacement. “The Chancellor works (…) closely and trustingly with all heads of the highest federal authorities,” said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit when asked whether Kahl still had the fullest confidence of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). When asked whether the government was planning to revise the BND law in the face of criticism that the BND did not have sufficient legal powers to fulfill its mandate, he said: “I am not aware of such considerations.”
Bundestag committees deal with allegations against the BND
According to information from the German Press Agency (dpa), the allegations against the BND in connection with the events surrounding the Wagner group will be made this Wednesday in the Foreign Affairs Committee and in the Parliamentary Control Committee (PKGr) of the Bundestag, which is responsible for monitoring the secret services play a role. Criticism of the BND had come from the ranks of the traffic light parties SPD and FDP.
Among intelligence experts in the Union, it was said that the analysis of the BND can only ever be as good as the procurement. Ampel representatives boasted that Germany had the best controlled secret service in the world with the BND. In practice, this is like juggling raw eggs with your hands tied behind your back.
The western allies focused negatively on the BND in the winter because a BND employee was arrested in Berlin on December 21 on suspicion of espionage. After the Russian attack on Ukraine last year, he is said to have passed on information he obtained in the course of his work to Russia. The federal prosecutor announced at the time that the information spied on was a state secret within the meaning of the Criminal Code.
Ex-BND President Put legal chunks in the way
Former BND President Schindler, who headed the service between 2012 and 2016, criticized: “Anyone who puts one legal chunk in the way of the BND after the other should not be surprised that this has an impact on the ability to obtain information. ” He continued to tell the dpa: “The mutation from an operating intelligence service into an administrative authority that deals with itself is politically desired. The changes in the law in recent years have done exactly that.”
Schindler was released in June 2016 in connection with the affair surrounding the worldwide data snooping by the US secret service NSA and BND wiretapping operations against friendly states.
Demand: Strengthen the BND operationally, remove obstacles
Schindler now said: “Those who are calling for the president to be replaced today have themselves played a part in curtailing the powers of the BND. But distracting oneself from one’s own mistakes is not a solution to the problem.” What is urgently needed is “a strengthening of the operational capabilities of the service and a thorough scouring of the numerous legal obstacles”.
Ex-intelligence representative: renovate security architecture
The discussion group on intelligence services in Germany (GKND), in which former leading German secret service representatives have come together since 2003, called for the allegations against the BND to be dealt with in a factual and solution-oriented manner. According to a GKND statement, “further upgrading of the service is urgently needed as part of the overall security architecture that is in need of renovation”. A rigorous inventory of the “personnel, material, operational and procedural skills” of the BND as well as the legal framework for the service is also necessary.
The GKND position was disseminated by Gerhard Conrad, one of the most well-known German intelligence officers. Until his retirement in 2019, Conrad was head of the EU’s intelligence situation and evaluation center (Intcen). The GKND Advisory Board includes ex-BND Presidents August Hanning and Hansjörg Geiger as well as former prominent representatives of other German secret services.
A week ago, Wagner boss Prigozhin occupied the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and then had his fighters march towards Moscow. He surprisingly gave up around 200 kilometers from the Russian capital. Putin assured Prigozhin and his mercenaries of impunity.