{ "id": "6d5e4fcf-eb94-41a1-a8a5-1b1ceab10bd3", "created_at": "2026-04-06T00:11:36.487776Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T03:24:29.630708Z", "deleted_at": null, "sha1_hash": "4ea4a4ff39ef217901b4f4ef17f03511f740cba3", "title": "Germany expels CIA official in US spy row", "llm_title": "", "authors": "", "file_creation_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_modification_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_size": 891119, "plain_text": "Germany expels CIA official in US spy row\r\nBy BBC News\r\nPublished: 2014-07-10 ยท Archived: 2026-04-05 17:04:53 UTC\r\nImage source, AFP\r\nImage caption,\r\nThe spying row has strained relations between the two allies\r\nThe German government has ordered the expulsion of a CIA official in Berlin in response to two cases of\r\nalleged spying by the US.\r\nThe official is said to have acted as a CIA contact at the US embassy, reports say, in a scandal that has infuriated\r\nGerman politicians.\r\nA German intelligence official was arrested last week on suspicion of spying.\r\nAn inquiry has also begun into a German defence ministry worker, reports said.\r\n\"The representative of the US intelligence services at the embassy of the United States of America has been told to\r\nleave Germany,\" government spokesman Steffen Seibert said.\r\nAnalysis by Rajini Vaidyanathan, BBC News, Washington\r\nEarlier this week the White House described the partnership between the US and Germany as one built on respect.\r\nBut no-one likes to be spied on, especially when it's your friend doing the spying.\r\nhttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28243933\r\nPage 1 of 4\n\nThis latest episode is yet another reminder of how American surveillance programmes are causing friction with\r\nallies. It's angered many in Germany, where the issue of snooping is historically a very sensitive one, and many\r\nare asking: \"What? Again?\"\r\nIt wasn't too long ago, after all, that we heard the National Security Agency was spying on Chancellor Merkel's\r\nmobile phone. After a review into the surveillance programmes, President Obama promised the US wouldn't spy\r\non its friends overseas.\r\nBut despite requests to be included, Germany isn't part of a non-spying pact the US has with Britain, New\r\nZealand, Australia and Canada. The White House will want to do all it can to repair any trust issues over this latest\r\nincident, so they can work together in other areas - for example, it needs German support for tougher sanctions\r\nagainst Russia over Ukraine.\r\nAnalysis by Stephen Evans, BBC News, Berlin\r\nThe request by the German government follows increasing frustration that it has failed to get US assurances that\r\nspying would cease on German citizens from Chancellor Merkel down.\r\nShe was shocked to learn that her mobile phone conversations were secretly being monitored while President\r\nObama was greeting her as a friend on his visit to Berlin.\r\nChancellor Merkel has tried to maintain a balance between condemning America's actions but also maintaining\r\ncordial relations. Each revelation has made that balance harder to achieve.\r\nThis matters because America needs German help on a range of issues from trying to get the world economy out\r\nof its difficulties, to finding united Western action on Russia, to dealing with the revelations emanating from\r\nEdward Snowden who is currently in Moscow but whom some German lawmakers want to invite to Berlin.\r\nThe chairman of the Bundestag (parliament) committee overseeing the secret service said the action had been\r\ntaken because of America's spying on German politicians and its failure to co-operate and provide adequate\r\nresponses.\r\nThe US has not denied allegations that a German intelligence agency employee arrested last week was passing\r\nsecret documents to the US National Security Agency (NSA).\r\nHowever, the latest reports that an employee within the defence ministry was also spying for the US were\r\nconsidered more serious. Although no arrest was made, searches were carried out on Wednesday at the ministry\r\nand elsewhere.\r\nhttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28243933\r\nPage 2 of 4\n\nImage source, AFP\r\nImage caption,\r\nA committee at the German parliament (in background) is investigating US spying allegations\r\nThe US and Germany have been close allies for decades but relations were hit last year when it emerged that\r\nChancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone had been monitored by the NSA.\r\nThe White House declined to comment on the matter but said the security and intelligence relationship with\r\nGermany \"is a very important one and keeps Germans and Americans safe\".\r\n\"It is essential that co-operation continue in all areas and we will continue to be in touch with the German\r\ngovernment in appropriate channels,\" spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.\r\nTimeline: Germany spy scandal\r\nOn Thursday, Mrs Merkel said spying on allies was a \"waste of energy\".\r\n\"We have so many problems, we should focus on the important things,\" she said.\r\nhttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28243933\r\nPage 3 of 4\n\nImage source, Reuters\r\nImage caption,\r\nClaims that the US bugged Angela Merkel's phone came from intelligence leaker Edward Snowden\r\n\"In the Cold War maybe there was general mistrust. Today we are living in the 21st Century. Today there are\r\ncompletely new threats.\"\r\nGerman Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the information that the US appeared to have gained from the\r\nsuspected espionage was \"laughable\" but the political damage was \"disproportionate and serious\".\r\nThe scale of the US agency's surveillance was revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who fled the\r\nUS and is now a fugitive in Russia.\r\nThe German intelligence official arrested last week was alleged to have been trying to gather details about a\r\nGerman parliamentary committee investigating the NSA spying scandal.\r\nWhen Mrs Merkel visited the White House in May, President Barack Obama sought to assure her and the German\r\npeople they were not subject to \"continual surveillance\" by the US.\r\nHe said \"complicated issues\" were involved but he anticipated that the matter would be resolved to the satisfaction\r\nof both countries.\r\nSource: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28243933\r\nhttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28243933\r\nPage 4 of 4", "extraction_quality": 1, "language": "EN", "sources": [ "ETDA" ], "references": [ "https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28243933" ], "report_names": [ "world-europe-28243933" ], "threat_actors": [ { "id": "aa73cd6a-868c-4ae4-a5b2-7cb2c5ad1e9d", "created_at": "2022-10-25T16:07:24.139848Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:04.878798Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "Safe", "aliases": [], "source_name": "ETDA:Safe", "tools": [ "DebugView", "LZ77", "OpenDoc", "SafeDisk", "TypeConfig", "UPXShell", "UsbDoc", "UsbExe" ], "source_id": "ETDA", "reports": null } ], "ts_created_at": 1775434296, "ts_updated_at": 1775791469, "ts_creation_date": 0, "ts_modification_date": 0, "files": { "pdf": "https://archive.orkl.eu/4ea4a4ff39ef217901b4f4ef17f03511f740cba3.pdf", "text": "https://archive.orkl.eu/4ea4a4ff39ef217901b4f4ef17f03511f740cba3.txt", "img": "https://archive.orkl.eu/4ea4a4ff39ef217901b4f4ef17f03511f740cba3.jpg" } }