(Reuters) – Germany’s foreign intelligence agency (BND) has known about U.S. surveillance and storage of German data for years and used it in cases of Germans kidnapped abroad, the mass-circulation daily Bild reported on Monday.
Questions over how much the German government and its own security agencies knew about U.S. surveillance have touched a raw nerve in Germany, given historical memories of spying on citizens by former communist East Germany and the Nazi regime.
The matter has also become an issue in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s campaign for re-election to a third term in office and, although favored to win, she is keen to quash any impression that she knew more than she has let on.
Source: Reuters
