Bundesnachrichtendienst

Germany · founded 1956 · Germany's foreign intelligence service.

Episode: CLASSIFIED — COMING SOON

Section: Europe

Case files (3): Bundestag NSA inquiry: BND selectors and monitoring of allies · Crypto AG / 'Minerva' · Constitutional Court: BND Act

Documented items (2)

VERIFIED Reported 11 February 2020

Crypto AG / 'Minerva'

According to reporting by ZDF and The Washington Post, the Swiss encryption firm Crypto AG was secretly owned by the CIA and the BND; the National Security Archive posted related declassified records.

Sources (opened in a new tab):

National Security Archive (GWU): The CIA's 'Minerva' Secret ↗ https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile-cyber-vault-intelligence-southern-cone/2020-02-11/cias-minerva-secret

VERIFIED 19 May 2020

Federal Constitutional Court: BND Act

The court held that German intelligence is bound by the Basic Law even in foreign-to-foreign surveillance and declared provisions of the BND Act incompatible with it.

Sources (opened in a new tab):

Bundesverfassungsgericht: judgment of 19 May 2020 (German) ↗ https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/DE/2020/05/rs20200519_1bvr283517.html

Lawfare: The German Constitutional Court Nixes Foreign Surveillance ↗ https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/german-constitutional-court-nixes-foreign-surveillance