US intelligence officer admits espionage attempt against BND-consequences for Germany!

US intelligence officer admits espionage attempt against BND-consequences for Germany!

Virginia, USA - A US secret service employee is accused of offering confidential information to the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND). The civilian employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Nathan Vilas L., was arrested on May 30 in the state of Virginia under suspicion of espionage. According to information from Baltic Sea Zeitung indicated the accused with dissatisfaction with the values ​​of the Trump government. This shows the far-reaching frustrations that many employees in US ministries and authorities felt against the previous administration.

Already at the beginning of March, L. contacted the BND anonymously by email and expressed his resentment about the political situation and decided to convey secret information. This information is classified as a "top secret" and therefore lie in the highest level of confidentiality, as reported by Tagesschau The BND immediately informed the US authorities about the incident, which underlines the explosiveness of the situation.

from contacting you to arrest

on May 1, Nathan L. handed over secret documents to an undercover agent of the FBI as part of a planned campaign, which he mistakenly considered a representative of a foreign secret service. This agent appeared hidden as a German civil servant. The e-mail correspondence, which led to the exposure of L., showed several errors, including the use of the same IP address for different email accounts. In addition, he had attached photos of his employee ID, which, despite supposed anonymization, contained identifiable information, as in reports from Tagesschau

In the last handover, L. wanted to put documents in a "dead mailbox", but was arrested by the FBI at that moment. The suspect had access to highly sensitive information and was responsible for monitoring users with access to internal systems. If he was convicted of espionage, he threatens a long prison sentence. This situation is particularly scandalous because it not only puts the trust relationship between the USA and Germany to the test, but also addresses the general working atmosphere in the US secret services.

The relevance of the secret services

The FBI, which is responsible for investigations and counter -espionage, plays a key role in the national security of the United States. According to Practical tips it was founded in 1908 and has over 36,000 employees. The case of Nathan L. could also strain the relationship between Germany and the USA, although the official security cooperations remain. German security circles state that US contacts have become more careful since the beginning of the year.