BND monitored U.S. President Barack Obama for years

Translation:

The Federal Intelligence Service (BND) monitored the then U.S. President Barack Obama for years. According to investigations by *DIE ZEIT*, the German foreign intelligence service intercepted conversations of the U.S. politician when he made phone calls aboard the presidential aircraft Air Force One. The Chancellor’s Office ultimately ended the surveillance of the presidential aircraft in 2014.

The operation is politically particularly sensitive because in 2013 Chancellor Angela Merkel had criticized the NSA with the words: “Spying on friends — that is simply not acceptable.”

The BND was able to intercept the U.S. president’s conversations because, according to insiders, the encryption of the aircraft’s communications was vulnerable to errors. The technicians of the U.S. government aircraft used around a dozen frequencies for Obama’s phone calls, which were known to the BND and, according to those involved, were monitored regularly, though not continuously. The BND was aware of the sensitivity of the operation: the United States was not part of the official mandate defining which countries the German government authorizes the BND to conduct intelligence operations against.

For this reason, transcripts of Obama’s communications were kept in a special folder and only in a single copy. This folder circulated only within a small, handpicked circle at the top of the intelligence service, including the BND president, the vice presidents, and the responsible department head. After being read, the transcripts were to be destroyed. The findings were then incorporated into general assessments of the U.S. position, which were also forwarded to the Chancellor’s Office.

In 2014, *Süddeutsche Zeitung* reported that then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had been monitored. Following this, the then head of the Chancellor’s Office, Peter Altmaier, ordered the practice to be stopped—without knowing, however, that the U.S. president himself had also become a target of the BND. Since then, the BND has no longer monitored the U.S. presidential aircraft. The operation against Obama ran for several years. It remains unclear when it began and whether his predecessor, George W. Bush, had also been selected as a target.

According to information from *DIE ZEIT*, the BND had not obtained authorization for the surveillance of Obama; it is unclear whether and to what extent individual employees of the Chancellor’s Office were aware of it. The chancellor herself was reportedly not informed. She likely would not have approved such an operation. After *Der Spiegel* revealed in October 2013 that the American NSA had monitored Merkel’s mobile phone for years, the chancellor made the now-famous statement that spying on friends was completely unacceptable. In small circles, she drew comparisons with the Stasi and pointed out that states could also collapse due to surveillance mania.

I’d be more shocked if an intelligence agency wasn’t spying on others.

Can you imagine the bureaucratic process that would happen if Obama filed a GDPR information request and complaint?

Good, they spy on us too and history has shown that US presidents can’t be trusted

Remember when documents were released accidentally by the US about their plan if they had to attack the UK…yeah, everyone’s an arsehole

No one is moral.

I’m impressed.

This is an intelligence agency’s literal job in every country. Spying is the only way to truly know who your allies and enemies are. I don’t even know why this is news.

Good. Should happen much more. Luckily operational responsibility of the BND have been massively increased by the current government.

Every country does it towards any other country 

I once asked an officer while serving if we really spy on our neighbors and even allies.
The answer was simple: Of course we do!
As stubborn as I am I continued asking: Why?
The answer was even simpler: Because we can!

They (USA) were eavesdropping mama Merkels smartphone for years, I think this is justified.

If the BND is worth its salt, it would monitor any national or global figure.

Jeeze louize, it’s the job of nations’ intelligence agencies to watch their allies as well as their purported enemies.