Journalist scandal

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The so-called journalists scandal of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) developed in 2005 in the Federal Republic of Germany publicized become monitoring different, also critical of the intelligence reporting, journalists in the period from 1993 to at least 1998th

The matter came to light when one of those affected, the publicist and head of the Weilheim Peace Institute Erich Schmidt-Eenboom , turned to the BND in June 2005 in order to obtain clarification about his spying. Schmidt-Eenboom had come across the surveillance through his own research and one of his guards had revealed himself to him. In July 2005 he then officially learned from a BND official that “his office was monitored by a video camera in 1994”. In the meantime he had three affidavits from former BND people about the process. The entire Weilheim Peace Institute was then video-monitored by the BND's "QC30" command and all visitors were identified.

Extent and motive

The BND claimed to have wanted to discover its own people who passed on information from the intelligence service. Schmidt-Eenboom wrote the book Der BND in 1994 , in which, among other things, weaknesses of the BND were revealed. According to the investigation committee member Michael Hartmann in the report of the special investigator and former presiding judge at the BGH Gerhard Schäfer , the BND activities generally served to gain knowledge of the media.

In May 2006, according to a report by the special investigator Gerhard Schäfer, it became known that the BND had been gathering information with informers for years in order to expose possible secret service employees who, among other things , had passed on insider knowledge in the plutonium affair . Journalist Jo Angerer , who works for the TV magazine Monitor , was also monitored. The Berliner Zeitung reported that journalists' telephones were also tapped. According to a monitor report, employees of the operational BND departments are said to have worked with the Military Counter- Intelligence Service (MAD) and the Bavarian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution .

Spying

However, in some cases the BND did not use its own personnel for the spying. Several journalists had contacted the secret service and offered to pass on information about investigative journalists, also in exchange for cash. This emerged from the expert report of the Bundestag control committee and was confirmed by the BND director Volker Foertsch on February 12, 2009 before the BND investigative committee. Most of the media did not raise this issue.

According to Michael Hartmann, a member of the BND investigative committee, it was about "information up to and including the betrayal of sources or the betrayal of the sources of other journalists". Among other things, according to the Schäfer report, the journalist Erwin Decker (BND code name: Bosch; at the time for Focus magazine) passed on information to the BND. Foertsch's notes on information passed on by Focus editor Josef Hufelschulte (BND code name: Jerez) even comprise 219 pages. However, Hufelschulte itself was also monitored as an important source of information by the BND.

Responsibility for the monitoring

The surveillance of journalists by the BND was not officially confirmed until November 10, 2005 by August Hanning, then President of the Authority , in a press conference. It became known that the BND had begun to spy on and monitor German journalists (including Erich Schmidt-Eenboom ) who had previously reported critically about the BND - apparently with the knowledge and approval of its then President Konrad Porzner to expose the sources of journalists who were suspected to be in their own ranks. It is currently unclear whether Porzner's successors were informed about the campaign, which is said to have lasted until at least 1998. In any case, Hanning denies this for himself. In addition to the responsible parliamentary control body, the federal government is said to have not been informed over the years. According to Foertsch's statement in February 2009, however, at least Bernd Schmidbauer, who was then Minister of State in the Chancellery, had been informed.

The presidents of the BND during the surveillance operations were Konrad Porzner (October 3, 1990 to March 31, 1996), Gerhard Güllich (provisional from April 1, 1996 to June 4, 1996) and Hansjörg Geiger from June 4, 1996 to December 17, 1998.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Gerhard Schäfer: Expert commissioned by the parliamentary control committee of the German Bundestag . In: Expert Opinion - Version intended for publication . 26 May 2006.
  2. ↑ a b c Foertsch: Contacts with journalists should uncover BND leaks. In: bundestag.de. February 12, 2009, archived from the original on July 19, 2009 ; accessed on January 26, 2015 .
  3. ^ The first: Thursday, May 18, 2006, 9.45pm - 10.15pm, ARD MONITOR BND scandal is spreading - BND, military defense service and the protection of the constitution are said to have cooperated. In: brd-info.net. May 18, 2006, accessed January 26, 2015 .
  4. ↑ a b Embarrassing details - journalists provide information to BND. In: ndr.de. February 25, 2009, archived from the original on March 26, 2009 ; accessed on January 26, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Jakobs: BND - intrigues, rumors, traitors. In: sueddeutsche.de . May 19, 2010, accessed January 26, 2015 .
  6. ^ Peter Blechschmidt: Spying - the BND at the service. In: sueddeutsche.de . May 17, 2010, accessed January 26, 2015 .
  7. ^ Schaefer report missing pages on BND contacts with journalist Josef Hufelschulte 2006. In: wikileaks.org. September 11, 2008, accessed January 26, 2015 .

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