The suspicion weighs heavily: Carsten L. is said to have passed on sensitive information from the Federal Intelligence Service to Russia. Maybe not just that, a new report suggests. As a high-ranking employee, he also had access to findings from partner countries.
According to a media report, the alleged Russian double agent at the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) is said to be a senior employee of the top-secret technical foreign reconnaissance of the German foreign intelligence service. In this function he also had access to information from Western partner services, reports Focus Online, citing information from Berlin security circles.
According to the report, Carsten L. is a senior civil servant with access to sensitive information. As a specialist in evaluation, he was obviously responsible for analyzing all the processes and information that the BND gained through worldwide wiretapping.
The material that was available to L. also included the findings of friendly partner services obtained during eavesdropping operations, it is said. These include the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the British interception service Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). The BND is therefore very concerned that Carsten L. could also have passed on material from friendly secret services to the Russians, Focus reported online.
Carsten L. had apparently been exposed in the BND itself and then arrested on the instructions of the federal prosecutor. He is accused of treason. The authorities have not yet commented on the details for reasons of investigation tactics.
Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann congratulated the authorities on Twitter for the arrest. “If the suspicion is confirmed, an important blow against Russian espionage has been struck here,” wrote Buschmann. This shows “how vigilant we have to be”.
