Germany’s foreign intelligence agency has reportedly restricted intelligence cooperation with the US National Security Agency (NSA) amid a recent scandal over alleged joint spying by the two organizations against European officials.
According to German media reports, Bundesnachrichtendienst, commonly known by its acronym BND, started demanding that the NSA provide a justification for each online surveillance request this week.
Citing sources close to a German parliamentary inquiry into the allegations, national daily Süddeutsche Zeitung and other German media said the BND stopped sharing internet surveillance data with the American agency after it failed to provide the required explanation.
Such a rule had long been in place for phone and fax surveillance, which Berlin continues to share with the NSA.