Germany’s spy agencies should be more like GCHQ, say ex-spy chiefs who complain of ‘sprawling bureaucracy’
- August Hanning and Gerhard Schindler led German intelligence service BND
- They said German spy agencies were suffering under an ‘excess of oversight’
Germany’s spy agencies should be more like GCHQ, two ex-spy chiefs, who also complained about the ‘sprawling bureaucracy’ in Germany, have said.
August Hanning, 77, and Gerhard Schindler, 70, former chiefs of the German foreign intelligence service BND, wrote in tabloid Bild that German spy agencies were suffering under an ‘excess of oversight’.
This includes seven different committees and ombudsmen the agencies have to respond to, which Hanning and Schindler described this as a ‘sprawling bureaucracy of control’ that is the ‘sister of inefficiency’.
They highlighted that politicians and courts shouldn’t be allowed to label intelligence services as a threat to the freedoms of the German people.
Instead, the country’s domestic, foreign and military agencies should be treated as an ‘indispensable part’ of the German defence front and be part of the ministry of defence.
August Hanning (pictured), 77, and Gerhard Schindler, 70, former chiefs of the German foreign intelligence service BND, wrote in tabloid Bild that German spy agencies were suffering under an ‘excess of oversight’
This includes seven different committees and ombudsmen the agencies have to respond to, which Hanning and Schindler (pictured) described this as a ‘sprawling bureaucracy of control’ that is the ‘sister of inefficiency’
The efficiency of the German foreign intelligence agency BND – which Hanning headed from 1998 to 2005 and Schindler from 2011 to 2016 – has been questioned since scandals came to light amid the invasion of Ukraine by Russia
They said: ‘Our intelligence agencies protect the country, the German people and our armed forces; they are part of the solution and not part of the problem.’
Hanning and Schindler also argued Germany’s intelligence services should focus more on signals intelligence, explaining: ‘We need a new technical intelligence service based on the successful models of the NSA in the US and GCHQ in the UK.
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‘We cannot afford to outsource terrorism investigations in Germany and the protection of our soldiers on deployments to foreign services in the long run.’
The German intelligence services would have to get back to the same level as foreign ones like the GCHQ and NSA.
Effective intelligence services don’t shy away from using human sources close to the action – the closer the more valuable the information they can provide, but the German agencies are told to avoid risks as much as possible, the ex-chiefs said.
‘The change of times should also be used in intelligence services, where new ways to protect our country and its population should be treated as the highest priority’, Hanning and Schindler concluded.
Former CIA agent John Sipher called the BND – which has long been seen as a weak link in the intelligence community in the west – ‘arrogant, incompetent and useless’.
Nathalie Vogel, a security expert at the Institute of World Politics, said the challenges for the German spy agencies go even deeper than Hanning and Schindler suggested.
She told the Telegraph: ‘They want to establish a system after the British model of oversight committees, but an intelligence service is only as good as the worst member who sits on an oversight committee.
‘In Germany you have far-left and AfD MPs who maintain direct relationships with Moscow, visit the Russian embassy and even make trips to [Russian occupied] Donbas.’
The current BND head, Bruno Kahl (pictured), found himself in the middle of a scandal himself when it emerged that he was stranded in Kyiv for ‘urgent talks’ when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022
She also criticised the BND’s bad relationship with allies in Central and Eastern Europe, because these countries would now ‘think twice before exchanging information with the Germans’.
READ MORE: Youth football coach ‘is unmasked as Putin spy who passed Germany’s secrets to Moscow that could help them win Ukraine war’
The efficiency of the German foreign intelligence agency BND – which Hanning headed from 1998 to 2005 and Schindler from 2011 to 2016 – has been questioned since scandals came to light amid the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Among those scandals is the case of Carsten Linke, an experienced agent with alleged far-right sympathies, who was leaking secrets to Moscow that could help them win the war in Ukraine.
The father of two had gained respect within the BND, where he oversaw units for spying on foreign communications and internal security.
He is suspected of handing over top-secret intelligence to Russia, some of which is believed to be linked to Ukraine, according to the newspaper Der Spiegel.
His arrest raised doubts for Western allies sharing intelligence during the time of an intense ground war in Europe.
Before his arrest, Mr Linke was thought to be in line to become one of the BND’s top officials and had access to highly sensitive intelligence that was being shared among Western spies.
With the assistance of a courier, he was alleged to have used the role to pass over intelligence to Russia on two separate occasions in autumn 2022.
The current BND head, Bruno Kahl, found himself in the middle of a scandal himself when it emerged that he was stranded in Kyiv for ‘urgent talks’ when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
His extraction took two days as he had to be evacuated by special forces via land because the airspace over Ukraine was closed.
The BND said in a statement at the time: ‘This was a difficult and lengthy journey because of the streams of refugees going in the same direction. He is back in the European Union and is expected in Berlin today.’
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