German Government Invites British Ambassador to Explain GCHQ Spying Allegations

While UK prime minister David Cameron insisted that ambassador McDonald had been ‘invtied’ to the German Foreign Ministry, most commentators describe it as the first time a British ambassador has been summoned in Germany since the end of World War II.

He was requested to explain reports in theIndependent newspaper Tuesday. “Documents leaked by the US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden,” writes the newspaper ,”show that GCHQ is, together with the US and other key partners, operating a network of electronic spy posts from diplomatic buildings around the world, which intercept data in host nations.”

But of specific concern is the suggestion that GCHQ is operating “its own covert listening station within a stone’s throw of the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, and Ms Merkel’s offices in the Chancellery, using hi-tech equipment housed on the embassy roof.”

According to Spiegel Online (Google translation), “a small number of employees of the embassy is only concerned with the wiretap. They work accordingly disguised as diplomats, their true function is also unknown to most of their colleagues.”

SOURCE: infosecurity-magazine.com