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By Eyk Henning
FRANKFURT--Several high ranking German politicians Sunday
pledged to strengthen parliament's control over the country's
intelligence service following allegations that it helped the U.S.
spy on European allies.
"The parliament's working group needs to be beefed up
significantly," Eva Hogl from the Social Democrats, which are part
of the ruling grand coalition, told the website Spiegel Online
Sunday. More staff, funds and a leading official coordinating
control over the secret service are necessary, she added.
Berlin-based lawmakers last week said Germany's foreign
intelligence service, or BND, violated German policy by
eavesdropping on European targets for years at the request of the
U.S. National Security Agency, reigniting public outrage in Germany
over American espionage.
Thomas Strobl of the Christian Democrats, Germany's largest
party, told weekly Welt am Sonntag that a BND supervisor should be
installed in the parliament and be given the right to obtain any
information from the intelligence agency. The supervisor should
also have the right to inform the public about everything deemed
necessary, he added.
Others suggested that new rules be drafted curbing the
intelligence agency's powers. "We need clear rules what the BND is
allowed to do" and what's forbidden, the Green Party's Konstantin
von Notz told Spiegel Online. He also blamed the chancellery for
having dragged its feet on the BND-NSA scandal and pledged that
Chancellor Angela Merkel should attend a hearing in the committee
of the parliament.
The accusations stem from government documents obtained by a
parliamentary committee established to investigate the U.S.
National Security Agency's surveillance activities in Germany after
details of its programs were leaked by former NSA contractor Edward
Snowden. German intelligence authorities used a Bavarian
eavesdropping station to monitor thousands of phone numbers and
Internet addresses at the NSA's behest.
The government of Ms. Merkel acknowledged that it had identified
"technical and organizational shortcomings" at the BND, but has
refrained from providing the parliamentary committee with details
on whom the intelligence agency was monitoring.
A spokeswoman for the German government declined to comment when
contacted by Dow Jones Newswires.
Write to Eyk Henning at eyk.henning@wsj.com