The German publications Süddeutsche Zeitung and Der Spiegel both published the news last week, stating that the reported reason for the surveillance was to investigate the sources of leaks from the BND to the press.

The spying was allegedly assigned to journalists, who were paid by the Intelligence Sevice to provide information about their colleagues’ work. Additionally, the investigation involved tailing reporters known to be researching the BND, and the use of listening devices in telephones, restaurants and even apartments.
The information about the press affair was disclosed in a 170 page report delivered to the parliamentary commission that has been overseeing the BND since the 9th of May.

The inquiry was launched with the intent of discovering whether the BND passed on information to the United States in order to identify bombing targets during the Iraq war. The 170 page document about the BND’s activities was compiled by former Supreme Court judge Gerhard Schaefer. The issue about spying on journalists came to light as a result of leaks from this report, which lists the names of reporters collaborating with BND, the sums they were paid and the target newspapers. At the moment the report is classified, but the Intelligence Service has reportedly carried out this kind of surveillance activity since the early nineties, and the targeted publications included Stern magazine, Focus magazine, and Sudwest Presse.

According to German law, the Federal Intelligence Service has the task of collecting information about foreign countries, and is not assigned missions of domestic intelligence.

Sources: AFP , Deutche Welle

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