14 DAY TRIAL // A European media investigation published on Sunday has revealed that Denmark's intelligence agency helped the US National Security Agency (NSA) spy on top European politicians, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, according to Deutsche Welle.
The revelation that the US spied on its allies first surfaced in 2013, but only now have journalists gained access to reports revealing Danish Defense Intelligence Service support for the NSA (FE).
Germany's close ally and neighbor collaborated with U.S. wiretapping activities against the chancellor and president, as the report notes.
According to the new research, Peer Steinbrueck, the then candidate for chancellor of the center-left party (SPD), was also a target.
The information was passed by intelligence sources to a team consisting of Danish, Swedish and Norwegian broadcasters (DR, SVT, and NRK respectively) as well as the French daily newspaper Le Monde, the German Sueddeutsche Zeitung, and the German public broadcasters NDR and WDR.
What was the reaction of German officials?
When he learned of the espionage efforts against him, Steinbrueck turned to the German members of the study team.
He regards this as a scandal. While he acknowledged that Western states need functioning intelligence services, the fact that Danish authorities were spying on their allies shows that they prefer to take matters into their own hands.
Merkel and Steinmeier were unaware of the spying by the top Danish government officials. According to a spokesperson, the Chancellor has been informed about the revelations.
What role did the Danish government play?
The Danish government has known about the involvement of its country's intelligence service in the NSA scandal since 2015 at the latest.
Following revelations by former NSA employee and whistleblower Edward Snowden, they began gathering information about FE's cooperation with the NSA between 2012 and 2014 in the confidential Dunhammer report, according to NDR.
The evidence they acquired showed that the FE had assisted the NSA in spying on high-level politicians in Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and France, as well as Germany.
Danish intelligence also assisted the US espionage agency in tracking the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, as well as a Danish arms manufacturer. In addition, FE cooperated with the NSA in wiretapping operations against the US government.
When the Danish government discovered the extent of the cooperation between the two nations' intelligence agencies, it ordered the resignation of the entire leadership of FE in 2020.