Germany’s Intelligence Service Spied on Journalists, Report Says
25, 2017
BERLIN — Germany’s foreign intelligence service apparently spied on the phones, faxes or emails of several foreign news organizations, including The New York Times, the British Broadcasting Corporation
and Reuters, the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.
The reference to a New York Times connection appeared to be a satellite phone number
that was used around the time of Afghanistan’s first presidential election in 2004, after the American-led coalition entered Afghanistan, Mr. Knobbe said in a telephone interview.
Der Spiegel said that it saw a list that indicated
that the German intelligence service, the BND, had monitored at least 50 phone numbers, fax numbers and email addresses beginning in 1999.
Der Spiegel noted that the activities of the BND had come under scrutiny during a three-year parliamentary investigation of allegations
that the intelligence services of the United States had conducted mass surveillance outside the United States.
The only journalist identified by name as having been monitored was Arnaud Zajtman, 44, a Belgian journalist who Der Spiegel
said had worked for almost 20 years in Africa, including a decade in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The German newsmagazine said it had contacted Mr. Zajtman and told him
that it appeared that the BND had noted the telephone numbers of two of his Congolese contacts.