NSA scandal roils Berlin

German spy agencies implicated

BERLIN — The uproar shaking the halls of power in Berlin could aptly be titled, “NSA Scandal II, the Sequel.” But in this latest spy drama, the nefarious Americans have a co-conspirator: the recalcitrant German intelligence service.

Outrage in Germany about U.S. snooping erupted in 2013, after data released by former National Security Agency contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden disclosed U.S. surveillance on friendly European targets up to and including Chancellor Angela Merkel. But fresh revelations suggest that the Bundesnachrichtendienst — Berlin’s foreign intelligence arm, also known as the BND — may have separately aided U.S. agents with snooping on hundreds of European companies, regional entities and politicians. The targets, according a report Thursday in Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung, included French and European Commission officials.

The new disclosures center on a list of 2,000 suspicious “selectors” — including phone numbers, IP addresses and emails — provided by the United States and plugged into German intelligence data systems that the Germans later determined exceeded the operation’s mandate. The German government has privately acknowledged the existence of the list to select lawmakers but has not clarified the targets, according to one briefed parliamentarian, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the briefing was classified.

In a country where Ms. Merkel berated Washington in the wake of the Snowden disclosures by saying that spying on friends is “a no go,” the revelations are rocking the government to its core. A bevy of German lawmakers are demanding answers to highly uncomfortable questions, some aimed at top figures in Ms. Merkel’s Cabinet. Next week, they will summon intelligence officials before two parliamentary committees to testify. Some are now even threatening to call Ms. Merkel.

Lawmakers, meanwhile, are clamoring for the complete list of targets, and that is likely to prove highly embarrassing to Washington and Berlin. The Suddeutsche Zeitung report, for instance, said unnamed officials in the Élysee Palace, the French foreign ministry and European offficials in Brussels were targeted.

In Germany, fresh outrage is being aimed at the United States, with critics mostly worried that attempts to snoop on companies such as Airbus could qualify as industrial espionage. But this time, many Germans appear far more scandalized by the actions of their own intelligence agencies and officials.