Germany’s foreign intelligence service listened in on calls made by US Secretary of State John Kerry, his predecessor Hillary Clinton and for years monitored its NATO partner Turkey, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.
Relations between Berlin and Washington have been tense since last year after disclosures of US espionage, including surveillance of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone and evidence that the ordinary Germans’ phone and internet communications were being monitored by the US National Security Agency.
According to the magazine, Germany’s BND intelligence agency recorded a call made by Kerry in 2013 and by Ms Clinton a year earlier to former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The conversations were recorded by accident, and the BND was not specifically targeting these diplomats, Der Spiegel reported.
On Friday, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and broadcasters NDR and WDR reported that Ms. Clinton’s conversations were tapped and the information was passed on to Washington by a BND employee who was allegedly spying for the United States.
In July, Germany arrested the BND clerk, who reportedly confessed he sold 218 documents to a U.S. handler, after which it was discovered that a German Defence Ministry policy adviser was passing on information to the US.
Berlin then asked the top US Central Intelligence Agency agent to leave the country.
Der Spiegel also reported that Turkey was listed on a BND document in 2009 for monitoring, which took place for years and was likely still ongoing.
