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German Police Conduct Searches in 2nd Possible Spy Case German Police Conduct Searches in 2nd Possible Spy Case
(about 3 hours later)
BERLIN — The police on Wednesday searched the Berlin-area office and apartment of a man suspected of being a spy, the federal prosecutor’s office said, deepening the espionage scandal that has damaged relations between Washington and Berlin. BERLIN — Anger at Washington mounted Wednesday with the disclosure that American intelligence agents were suspected of having recruited a second spy in Germany, this time in the defense industry, prompting even robust allies of the United States to suggest that a fundamental reset was needed in one of the most important of trans-Atlantic partnerships.
No one has been arrested yet and the investigation is continuing, the prosecutor’s office said in a terse statement. The federal prosecutor general confirmed that police had raided at least one apartment and an office in the area of greater Berlin on suspicion that an unidentified man had engaged in espionage. But a joint investigative reporting unit of the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung and two public broadcasters cited anonymous government sources as saying that the man was linked to the Defense Ministry and was suspected of passing information to American military intelligence.
The statement did not specify that the suspect had been spying for the United States. But a joint investigative reporting unit of the German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and two public broadcasters cited informed sources as saying that the suspect worked in the “military field” and had spied for Washington. The German news agency DPA, also citing anonymous sources, said the suspect worked in the Defense Ministry’s political department on developing international arms cooperation.
Lt. Col. Uwe Roth, a spokesman for the German Defense Ministry, confirmed that federal prosecutors were carrying out an investigation involving his ministry but declined to give further details. No further details were made public, and the prosecutor general’s terse statement said no arrest had been made yet.
If a second German is found to have been spying for the Americans, it would deepen the trans-Atlantic quarrel that erupted over an employee of the German foreign intelligence service who is said to have been run by the Central Intelligence Agency after volunteering information two years ago. Government officials and politicians here seemed at a loss to convey their shock at this new case, just days after the American ambassador, John B. Emerson, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry over reports that a midlevel employee of Germany’s intelligence service had confessed, after his arrest a week ago, to passing some 200 documents to the Americans, reportedly in exchange for a fee.
That case, revealed last week, deepened the mistrust that has clouded relations between Washington and Berlin for more than a year after revelations of American intelligence activities in Germany, including eavesdropping on a cellphone used by Chancellor Angela Merkel. A delegation from Parliament’s foreign affairs committee hastened to New York and Washington this week, but its leader reported that American officials and politicians were slow to grasp the damage to relations.
Ms. Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, declined to comment on the continuing cases, saying that investigations had to be completed. “At some point, the ‘no comment’ will not be enough,” Norbert Röttgen, the committee’s head and an influential member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Party, said in a telephone interview from Washington. “The U.S. must understand what psychological damage it is inflicting. I think that will be a difficult process.”
He did say, however, that the government would inform the parliamentary commission that controls the intelligence services as soon as possible about the latest developments. At the same time, Mr. Röttgen cautioned his German colleagues to appreciate that Berlin and Washington had profoundly differing views on the role of an intelligence service and should not let this difference permanently damage otherwise strong ties. Analysts have said that Germans have a far more restrictive view of how intelligence agencies should operate and what a fair target is.
“The German government is in contact with the American side on many levels, the federal prosecutor and the investigators are continuing their work,” Mr. Seibert said. “We need to wait for them to complete their work before we can speak of possible consequences.” Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a Social Democrat who after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks led an effort to tighten cooperation with American intelligence, seemed at a loss to understand why the United States would spy on Germany.
“If the accusations are proven true, then it is a very serious course of events which stands clearly in opposition to what the chancellor understands as trustworthy cooperation between services and from partners,” Mr. Seibert added. “We speak to each other all the time, and nobody makes a secret of their views,” he said in an interview published Wednesday by the newspaper Saarbrücker Zeitung. “The attempt to find out about Germany’s position is not just unseemly, it is unnecessary.”
John B. Emerson, the American ambassador, who was summoned to the German Foreign Ministry on July 4 to discuss last week’s spy revelations, was again in the ministry on Wednesday and met Ms. Merkel’s foreign policy adviser, Christoph Heusgen, the American Embassy said. A spokesman said both meetings took place at the Americans’ request. While the United States has been the target of much German ire, less public outrage has been directed at Germany’s own intelligence chiefs, who — if the current cases are confirmed as espionage — may have to answer for two apparently grave breaches of their own security.
Thomas Miller, the embassy’s top public affairs officer, declined to detail what was discussed. In keeping with American practice, he also declined to comment on the latest reports of a second spy. The newspaper Die Welt, which has well-placed sources in the German government, said the second suspect was a Bundeswehr soldier suspected of passing information to United States military intelligence. In Washington, questioning has focused on when the Central Intelligence Agency informed President Obama about the case that resulted in the arrest of the midlevel German intelligence employee last week.
Norbert Röttgen, a senior member of Ms. Merkel’s conservative party and the head of Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said he had told United States officials about the political damage the scandal is causing in Germany. Mr. Obama and Ms. Merkel spoke by telephone last Thursday in a previously scheduled call that was supposed to focus on, among other things, whether to tighten sanctions against Russia for its apparent unwillingness to defuse the crisis in Ukraine.
“At some point, the ‘no comment’ will not be enough,” Mr. Röttgen said in a telephone interview from Washington, where he and other lawmakers have been meeting with American officials. “The U.S. must understand what psychological damage it is inflicting. I think that will be a difficult process.” Ms. Merkel has kept quite quiet about the whole affair, but she was forced to address it at a news conference in Beijing on Monday, yielding the unusual sight of a German leader being critical of the United States as the prime minister of Communist China, Li Keqiang, looked on. If the first of the two reported cases of American espionage was confirmed, it would be a “serious case,” Ms. Merkel said, out of keeping with what she would view as friendly partner relations.
At the same time, he cautioned his German colleagues to understand that Berlin and Washington have profoundly different views on the role of intelligence services, and not to let these differences permanently damage otherwise strong ties.
“We should not let the intelligence service stupidities be the measure of our relations because German-American relations are essential,” Mr. Röttgen said.