German Intelligence Services Oversight Body Files Action Against Government

For the first time in its history, the G10 Commission, an oversight body over the German Intelligence Services, will go to court to challenge decisions by the German government and the services, German Public Broadcasting and the Süddeutsche Zeitung revealed last night.

In a dispute between the government and an investigatory committee of the German Parliament over data transferred from the German Services to the National Security Agency, representatives of the G10 Commission said they were tricked.

The German Foreign Intelligence Services, supported by the government, tapped the German Internet Exchange Point Decix, the largest internet exchange point globally. While the G10 Commission had approved the blanket tapping, they were unaware that some of the tapped data were forwarded to the NSA, the US National Security Agency, based on a list of so-called “selectors” – names or numbers the NSA sent to their German colleagues.

When it became clear that the list of the so-called Eikonal programme included names of EU military projects and European diplomatic bodies, the parliamentary inquiry committee asked to be handed the complete wishlist to check the legality. The government rejected the request and instead wanted to have the list be checked by a trusted representative who should convey results to the committee.

The former Chair of the G10 Commission, Hans de With, meanwhile was adamant that the oversight had been tricked in the first place. He is now preparing the complaint to Germany’s highest court, the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe.

Never before has an oversight body for the intelligence services brought such an action against the government.