I Spied on Germany’s National Spy Agency
Credit to Author: Matern Boeselager| Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2019 16:49:25 +0000
This article originally appeared on VICE Germany
Damn – they’ve seen me. I quickly roll through the wet foliage to my left and crouch behind a tree, but it’s too late. Two men in uniform emerge from the gates of the government building in Cologne, western Germany, that houses the Federal Office for the Protection of the German Constitution (BfV) – Germany’s domestic intelligence agency – and they’re headed in my direction.
I have just enough time to conceal the binoculars I’ve been using to monitor the spy house. Still, I have a bigger problem: I’m dressed head-to-toe in camo and wearing a poncho covered in leaves and old cigarette boxes. I can only hope that they don’t open fire on sight. But honestly, who could blame them if they did.
“What are you doing?” barks one of them, before they’ve even reached me.
That’s a very good question.
The easy answer, which is also the answer I can’t give them, is that I’m here to spy on Germany’s main spy agency, because it’s time someone took a closer look at what they’re all up to.
The slightly longer answer is that Hans-Georg Maaßen – who was, up until late last year, president of the domestic security agency – recently gave a speech in which he falsely claimed that actual video of neo-Nazis assaulting anyone they thought looked foreign was all faked. As a consequence of his rant, Maaßen was forced into retirement. This whole thing had many people thinking that if the country’s top spy could think this way, then what does that mean for how the entire institution operates?
There was only one way to find out: to spy on the spies and discover what really goes on inside.
Preparation
Of course, you can’t just go and spy on a bunch of spies without some preparation. First, I have to become intimately familiar with my target. I head to Berlin’s Humboldt University’s library in search of material that will offer a more comprehensive understanding of BfV’s history.
The fact that this department has failed to notice that a neo-Nazi cell has allegedly been systematically murdering people of Turkish descent for the last 13 years doesn’t worry them too much. “It’s difficult, because there were people who may have covered that up,” says one, Pinar. “But the man at the stand told us just now that there are a lot of young people coming in and the atmosphere is changing. I think lots of the problems the agency have had in recent years is related to the fact that the people there are so old. Thank god they’ll retire soon!” she laughs.
The girls move on to check out some more stands, and for the rest of the day I consider Pinar’s comment, which gets me thinking that maybe she’s right. With Maaßen retired, perhaps a new culture is on its way in. His successor, Thomas Haldenwang, has suggested that he wants to take right-wing extremism even more seriously.
Whatever happens next, I’ll be using my news skills to keep an eye on him.
This article originally appeared on VICE DE.