The German foreign intelligence service BND has apparently uncovered a spy in its own ranks. The man collected information for Russia. After long investigations, the authorities are now taking action.
The federal prosecutor’s office has arrested an employee of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) for spying for Russia. Carsten L. was accused of treason, the federal prosecutor said. He is said to have submitted information to a Russian intelligence service earlier this year and was arrested on Wednesday. The content is a state secret. In addition, the apartment and the workplace of the accused and another person were searched. The accused is in custody. According to “Spiegel”, Chancellor Olaf Scholz was informed about the incident weeks ago.
BND President Bruno Kahl said that the foreign secret service had learned of a possible case of treason in its own ranks as part of its intelligence work. As a result, extensive internal investigations were initiated. “When these confirmed the suspicion, the Attorney General was immediately involved.”
The BND kept a low profile on the details. “Restraint and discretion are very important in this particular case,” said Kahl. “With Russia, we are dealing with an actor on the other side whose unscrupulousness and willingness to use violence we have to reckon with. Every detail of this process that is made public means an advantage for this opponent in its intention to harm Germany.” Therefore, in this case, the success of the investigation depends on “that as little as possible becomes public until the Attorney General has completed his investigation.”
Most recently, a so-called mole – a double agent at the BND – was busted in 2014. Two years later, the man was sentenced to eight years in prison by the Munich Higher Regional Court for years of espionage, primarily for the US secret service CIA. The then 32-year-old was found guilty of treason and breach of official secrets. Between 2008 and 2014, the trained office clerk passed on more than 200 BND documents, some of which were top secret or explosive, to the CIA and collected at least 80,000 euros for them. He made a confession in court. The motives he gave were boredom, frustration and not being challenged at his job. Among the documents passed on was a database with code and real names of German agents abroad. The man is said to have endangered the life of a BND source abroad. In 2014 he had also offered himself to the Russian secret service by email.
