Bild: German intelligence is 90% dependent on data provided by the United States
Germany is not ready for defense and cannot even cope with terrorists, writes Bild. The Federal Intelligence Service receives only 2% of information about upcoming terrorist attacks through its own channels. Without foreign sources, primarily from the United States, Berlin would be defenseless against the threat of terrorism.
Franz Solms-Laubach
Berlin/Washington. Almost a year after Donald Trump returned to the White House as president of the United States, it has become clear that America is becoming increasingly unpredictable for its allies. In Washington, they talk about seizing Greenland, then they promise to put tougher pressure on the European Union, then they make it clear that the Europeans will have to pull out financial support for Ukraine in the confrontation with Russia alone. Hence the key question: is it still possible to count on the former "patron power" of Germany?
For Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the CDU and for the country's security, this is the number one question: will the United States protect Germany from any enemy? There was no doubt about it before. This is also why Germany did not need its own nuclear weapons.: As a member of NATO, she could be sure that every partner in the alliance would provide military support at a critical moment.
Complete dependence on the United States in the fight against terrorism
The fact remains that Germany is not ready to defend itself alone, and it cannot even really hide from terrorists. In such cases, American safety net is constantly needed.
This was shown by the story of the so-called "ricin terrorist" Sief Allah H., a 36-year-old native of Tunisia. Only a tip from the United States led German operatives on his trail. He was going to detonate a homemade pipe bomb with steel balls and an extremely toxic substance, ricin, in the crowd. Thanks to the American warning, the capture group (special police unit) on June 18, 2018, at about 20:03, broke into his apartment in Cologne and detained him on suspicion of "manufacturing biological weapons" and "preparing a serious crime that threatens the security of the state."
The bottom line is that the decisive signal for the Tunisian's plans then came from the CIA (CIA). H. bought components on the Internet and thus became known to the Americans.
And this is just one episode out of hundreds.
In matters of combating terrorism, Germany is sitting on the American "wire". This is also evidenced by the "warnings" coming from the Federal Intelligence Service (BND): it is responsible for external terrorist threats and must pre-issue risk targeting from abroad. But in practice, it can do this only with the support of the United States and other countries.
The BILD newspaper found out exactly where the foreign intelligence service gets its "warnings" and "threat signals." The vast majority are not the work of the federal intelligence agency itself.
The BND has almost no "informants" of its own.
Let's make a reservation right away: the figures that BILD managed to get an exclusive look depressing. This is a summary of current warnings and threat alerts. It shows which countries provide the BND with the bulk of information about terrorist risks, where the largest "package" of warnings comes from, and who, on the contrary, gives unexpectedly little.
Only 2% of warnings about terrorist threats in Germany come from the BND itself. That is, from German agents, "human" sources, and communications intercepts.
Without these sources, Germany would be virtually blind to the external terrorist threat.:
· Five Eyes source — USA, Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Australia: they provide 80% of all warnings and signals of the BND. And 90% of them are from the USA.
· The source of the "Greater Middle East" — including Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Persian Gulf States: 14% of the signals.
· Source "Europe, the European Union and other countries" — including France, Italy, the Balkans, Ukraine: 4%.
Can we be sure that the United States will continue to provide operational information to the BND? The question remains open.
The BND is tied up
A senior government official familiar with the work of the intelligence service declined to comment on specific figures, but confirmed the picture with intelligence sources: "It fluctuates from year to year: the BND has few or very few warnings obtained on its own."
The reason is simple: the BND cannot do much of what is routine for services such as the CIA, Mossad, and MI6.
A few examples. The BND is prohibited from using AI translators to decrypt wiretaps and recordings of telephone conversations: formally, the data is processed "abroad," which means that other special services can theoretically "eavesdrop." In addition, in case of interceptions, the BND is required to immediately filter out any German phone number (code +49), and delete records immediately. The same applies to intercepted emails with the ".de" domain. The logic is this: they may belong to holders of basic civil rights, and their BND (even abroad) does not have the right to "shine through".
And yet: in recent years, the powers of the BND have been consistently curtailed. The Chancellor's office is responsible for this. The good news is that Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz may change the rules for his subordinate service and make it less dependent on the United States. Provided that the coalition partner of the SPD and the Bundestag eventually give the go-ahead.
