Germany expels US intelligence representative amid spy row
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E-mail Xinhua, July 10, 2014
The German government on Thursday decided to deport representative of the U.S. intelligence agencies in Berlin as consequence of an emerging U.S. spy row.
Representative of the U.S. intelligence agencies at the Embassy of the United States in Berlin was asked to leave Germany, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Thursday in a statement.
The decision was made in light of the ongoing investigation into the latest U.S. espionage allegations as well as unsolved questions about activities of American intelligence services in Germany, Seibert said.
The spokesman also noted the German government hoped that its closest partner would show mutual trust and frankness in their cooperation with Germany.
The German Parliamentary Control Panel, which oversees German intelligence services, held a special meeting earlier in the day to deal with the latest reports of suspected U.S. spying in Germany.
Clemens Binninger, Chairman of the control panel, said its decision to expel the U.S. intelligence representative was made as "response to a failed cooperation in efforts to clarify the U.S. monitoring cases."
Great anger has been sparked in Germany due to reports that the U.S. intelligence allgedly has led two employees of German authorities as spies.
The latest spy row involves a 31-year-old employee of Germany's foreign intelligence service BND, who has confessed passing more than 200 classified documents to the United States, and a man from German Defense Ministry, against whom investigation is being conducted due to an initial suspicion of intelligence activity.
German politicians across party lines have called for a swift response from Washington. During her visit to Beijing on Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it would be "a clear contradiction" of trust between the allies if the new allegations turned out true.
Revelations of U.S. data gathering practices by Edward Snowden, especially allegations about the tapping of Merkel's mobile phone, have led to explicit criticism in Germany and strained relations between Germany and the United States.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Monday told reporters at a daily news briefing that the United States will work with Germany over the latest spy row that threatens to further damage bilateral ties.
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