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Afus199620 (talk | contribs) Added espionage with text translated from https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/US-amerikanische_Geheimdienstaktivit%C3%A4ten_in_Deutschland |
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== Espionage ==
{{Main article|American espionage in Germany}}
As the [[Iron Curtain]] ran through the middle of [[Germany]] during the Cold War, [[divided Germany]] was an important center of US espionage activities. US intelligence agencies monitored the politics of the Federal Republic of Germany as well as conducting espionage and propaganda against the Eastern Bloc. The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and other American intelligence services worked closely with the West German [[Federal Intelligence Service|BND]]. Even after German reunification, a significant American intelligence presence in Germany remained. In 2013, the global surveillance and espionage affair revealed that the American [[National Security Agency|NSA]] had [[Eavesdropping|eavesdropped]] on and [[Espionage|spied]] on almost all top German politicians, including Chancellor [[Angela Merkel]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web/German|url=https://www.bild.de/politik/inland/politik-inland/lauschangriff-auf-320-wichtige-deutsche-34798676.bild.html|titel=Neue NSA-Enthüllungen - Lausch angriff auf 320 wichtige Deutsche|werk=Bild|datum=2014-02-22|zugriff=2024-07-05|sprache=de}}</ref> The revelations also brought to light that the CIA had informants in politics and the security services of Germany.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web/German|url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/medien-mehr-als-ein-dutzend-spione-in-ministerien-13042586.html|titel=Medien: Mehr als ein Dutzend Spione in Ministerien|datum=2014-07-13|zugriff=2024-07-05|sprache=de}}</ref> The US has a surveillance capacity on German soil that far exceeds that of the German security services. This is also demonstrated by the fact that numerous terrorist attacks in Germany have been prevented by information from US intelligence. There is therefore a great deal of dependence on the German side in the [[Counterterrorism|fight against terrorism]].<ref>{{Cite web/German|url=https://www.prosieben.de/serien/newstime/news/warum-deutsche-geheimdienste-so-abhaengig-von-den-usa-sind-67447|titel=Warum deutsche Geheimdienste so abhängig von den USA sind|datum=2023-01-10|zugriff=2024-07-09|sprache=de}}</ref> The German BND cooperated with the NSA on the mass surveillance of German citizens.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Biermann |first=Kai |date=2015-05-12 |title=BND-Spionageaffäre: BND liefert NSA 1,3 Milliarden Metadaten – jeden Monat |url=https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2015-05/bnd-nsa-milliarden-metadaten |access-date=2024-07-13 |work=Die Zeit |language=de-DE |issn=0044-2070}}</ref>
According to estimates from 2010, around 120 CIA agents were working in Germany, often disguised as diplomats. They were mainly active in the [[Embassy of the United States, Berlin|American embassy]] in [[Berlin]] and the consulates in [[Munich]] and [[Frankfurt]]. For a long time, the CIA headquarters in Frankfurt was located in the [[IG Farben Building|I.G. Farben building]], which was occupied by the US in World War II.<ref>{{Cite web/German|autor=Hans Leyendecker|url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/us-geheimdienst-cia-undercover-in-der-bundesrepublik-1.157473|titel=Undercover in der Bundesrepublik|werk=Süddeutsche Zeitung|datum=2010-05-17|zugriff=2024-07-05|sprache=de}}</ref> According to revelations [[WikiLeaks]] platform in 2017, there is a secret hacker unit called [[Vault 7]] in the [[Consulate General of the United States, Frankfurt|US consulate in Frankfurt]], which is responsible for [[Europe]], the [[Near East|Middle East]] and [[Africa]]. [[Wiesbaden]] is home to the [[United States Army|US Army]]'s [[Consolidated Intelligence Center]], which was built in 2015 and is also to be used by the NSA. The espionage center is located near the traffic-intensive [[DE-CIX]] internet hub.<ref>{{Cite web/German|url=https://archive.ph/xLZex|titel=Wiesbadener Kurier - Wiesbaden: Weiter Unklarheit über NSA-Abhörzentr…|datum=2013-07-20|zugriff=2024-07-05}}</ref> The US bases in the country are [[Extraterritoriality|extraterritorial]] and are therefore subject to [[US law]].<ref>{{Cite web/German|autor=Gert L. Polli|url=https://deutsche-wirtschafts-nachrichten.de/219976|titel=US-Spionage auf deutschem Boden ist vollkommen legal|zugriff=2024-07-09|sprache=de-DE}}</ref>
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