'Secrets Must Remain Secret': German Intelligence Coordinator on NSA and Media Leaks

[unhappycamper]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/nsa-interview-with-german-intelligence-coordinator-altmaier-a-1048072.html



In a SPIEGEL interview, Chancellor Angela Merkel's Chief of Staff Peter Altmaier speaks of mistakes made by German intelligence, leaks of confidential information in Berlin and German timidity in the face of US spying.

'Secrets Must Remain Secret': German Intelligence Coordinator on NSA and Media Leaks
Interview Conducted By Michael Sauga, Jörg Schindler and Peter Müller
August 14, 2015 – 06:09 PM

nformation in Berlin and German timidity in the face of US spying.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Altmaier, as Angela Merkel's chief of staff in the Chancellery, you have supervisory power over Germany's intelligence services. How often do transcripts of conversations that have been tapped by the foreign intelligence agency, the BND, come across your desk?

Altmaier: You make it sound like my life is exciting! Of course I obtain reports and analyses from the intelligence services -- about events in certain crisis regions, for example. That's why the services are there. As far as I can see, there is no democratic country in the world that can afford the luxury of working without a foreign intelligence agency. No one can risk flying blind on important foeign policy issues. But it is not my job to read every single wiretap transcript.

SPIEGEL: Do you know if you are being wiretapped?

Altair: No, I do not know, but I'm also not naïve. There are many intelligence agencies that are interested in knowing what politicians in Germany think and do. The NSA is not alone in that respect.