German Chancellor Expels CIA Station Chief
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The CIA officer was expelled mostly to send a message to the U.S. (Aleph, Wikimedia Commons)
In an unprecedented move between allies, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has ordered the CIA station chief in Berlin to leave the country or be forced out, reports the Washington Post.
The German government’s move represents a high-profile, almost theatrical display of anger, which culminates rising tensions between the two states after German intelligence uncovered alleged CIA recruitment of a German operative and the tapping of Merkel’s personal cell phone, revealed by documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
A spokesman for the German government confirmed the expulsion of the CIA’s top officer in Berlin and made clear that Berlin regards U.S. espionage as a breach of trust.
The CIA station chief is the representative of U.S. intelligence services, in residence at the American embassy. He/she oversees U.S. spying programs in Germany and serves as the main contact with German intelligence services, remitting information vital to U.S. national security.
This form of retaliation is occasionally employed by espionage adversaries, but rarely by close allies. John A. Rizzo, a former CIA officer believes that this action is strongly motivated by “political reasons,” as the Germans will be losing a substantial amount of access to intelligence gathered by the CIA. Members of the German parliament echoed this sentiment, describing the expulsion as a “necessary symbolic act” to impress the seriousness of this matter upon the U.S.
The decision to expel the CIA station chief came one day after German authorities arrested a German intelligence officer who was reportedly contacted by and sold state secrets to a CIA operative.
Last year, the Snowden leaks showed that the U.S. was intercepting communications of Germans and other European citizens on a mass scale. Merkel has been criticized for not responding more forcefully to these revelations.
