NSA Humor

Olaf Standke on investigations regarding Merkel’s cell phone

Washington has a quirky sense of humor: The Obama administration now appears upset over investigations conducted by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office of Germany regarding the National Security Agency’s alleged eavesdropping operation involving Chancellor Merkel’s cell phone. The “most appropriate way” to address this issue is through “diplomatic channels.” And this comes after months of the German ally’s unsuccessful begging for clarification on the matter and a so-called no-spy agreement.

But in the end, this reaction is no funnier than its catalyst. If, after months of embarrassing hemming and hawing, [German] Attorney General [Harald] Range sees that in Merkel’s case, there is any suspicious activity among intelligence agents to initiate proceedings against an “unknown,” then, in view of the large-scale American — and British — spying operation on the German public, he will want to find “no real, sufficient clues.” Even ministers and parliament members do not seem important enough to warrant suspicion. It is as if whistleblower Edward Snowden’s bold disclosures that started a year ago — which they absolutely do not want made public — had never happened. As if the extensive surveillance were not an attack on everyone’s basic rights and a “major offense,” as Representative Ströbele of the Green Party called it. When looked at in that way, the Merkel investigation is a good distraction from the German Federal Intelligence Service’s role in the scandal.