BERLIN
German intelligence organization BND has reportedly sent up to 1.3 billion intercepted data monthly to the NSA, the U.S. intelligence agency.
The weekly Die Zeit’s internet portal published on Tuesday leaked BND documents from 2013 and revealed new details on the secret cooperation between BND and NSA, further increasing pressure over Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government.
According to one of the leaked documents, German intelligence had shared with NSA up to 1.3 billion phone and internet data monthly, which it intercepted through its Bad Aibling station in southwestern Germany.
According to the report, the shared data included information on the telephone, SMS and the e-mail traffic of thousands of people, as well as the time and place of the calls.
Recent revelations showed that BND’s cooperation with the NSA on digital surveillance was much broader than previously thought.
Documents leaked by U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden two years ago revealed that German intelligence had shared 500 million intercepted data with NSA in December 2012.
The weekly said the leaked documents from recent years indicate more intensified cooperation between BND and NSA.
According to the report, BND had intercepted around 220 million phone and internet data daily from different regions around the world, but only shared some of these with the NSA, in line with the provisions of a cooperation agreement signed in 2002.
Widening scandal
The agreement in 2002 aimed at spying on telephone and internet communications in conflict regions like Afghanistan, according to German officials.
But reports late last month have revealed that the U.S. spy agency had also spied on European politicians, institutions and companies like aerospace giant EADS.
The German government did not decline the reports, but announced it has instructed an inquiry into the claims.
German opposition parties are suspecting U.S. surveillance targeting German and European interests and are demanding a full list of telephone numbers, e-mail accounts and IP addresses monitored by the BND in cooperation with the NSA.
But Merkel has so far resisted that demand and argued that Berlin should first consult with Washington.
She defended cooperation with the NSA, citing the growing terrorism threat.
WikiLeaks publishes inquiry documents
Meanwhile, WikiLeaks published on Tuesday transcripts of the closed hearings at the German parliament’s inquiry into the NSA activities in Germany.
The released transcripts of hearings from May 2014 to February 2015 include tough dialogues between German lawmakers and BND officials in closed sessions.
BND officials often denied any wrongdoing, but did not provide detailed information to lawmakers on sensitive points of cooperation with the NSA.
