Russia is said to have targeted the head of Germany’s largest arms company. There is great outrage, but also concern: German services are said not to have uncovered it.
In view of alleged Russian plans against the Rheinmetall boss, calls for more powers for the German security authorities are growing louder again. According to information from the US broadcaster CNN, American secret services are said to have uncovered the plot.
Saxony’s Interior Minister Armin Schuster of the CDU told the “Bild” newspaper (Saturday): “I have a massive problem with the fact that we constantly need information from abroad.” The security authorities there have “the tools with which they can gain this information, for which I cannot find a political majority here in Germany.”
Western intelligence services generally generate a lot of information through joint work, as former high-ranking employee of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and current security expert Gerhard Conrad explained in the ARD “Tagesthemen”. But it is also true that “the German services are much more restrictively regulated in intelligence, telecommunications intelligence and other areas”. They are not allowed to do what other services, particularly in the USA, are allowed to do. “You have to consider whether these trade-offs that were made in the past are still viable today,” he said.
Schuster: Highly risky to have to rely on foreign countries
From Schuster’s and the Union’s point of view, what is needed is data retention, i.e. the storage of location and traffic data from telecommunications without cause in order to have them available for anti-terror investigations if necessary; so-called source telecommunications surveillance (source TKÜ), which takes effect before encryption or after decryption, and online searches. The state minister said: “These are the methods that allow the Americans to give us valuable information. But if we are not allowed to do anything – I think it is extremely risky to have to rely on information from abroad again and again.”
According to CNN, US intelligence services uncovered plans by the Russian government to assassinate the CEO of the largest German arms company Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, at the beginning of the year. The German side was then informed and the 61-year-old was subsequently given special protection. Rheinmetall is one of the largest European suppliers of tank technology and artillery shells for Ukraine. In June, the company opened a repair shop for infantry fighting vehicles in western Ukraine. The production of new tanks is also planned.
The president of the Thuringian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Stephan Kramer, told the editorial network Germany: “We need more protective measures for critical infrastructures and relevant persons.”
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
