NSA investigation committee begins its work in Germany
5 April 2014, 03:25 -- Germany has officially started hearings on NSA spying case. A special investigation committee began its work today and instantly couldn't agree on the role of Edward Snowden in this process. Deutsche Welle has published an article disclosing the details of the first day of the investigation committee work. Clemens Binninger, who is the leader of the project claims that any attempts to reach the US side were left unsuccessful. The German government has also sent a question catalogue to the US officials, which was left unanswered as well.
According to Binninger, German side cannot do more than it is already doing. It can only appeal to different countries like Britain or the US but the decision remains on them. The committee began its work on Thursday (03.04.2014) and it consists of eight members who are deciding on the procedure of gathering witnesses together for testifying.
However, Binninger claims that it is vitally significant to receive answers to the questions in catalogue as it would be 'an important first step toward restoring trust.'
According to Washington Post, the committee is set "to call dozens of witnesses and review piles of documents". One thing that members of the committee can't reach an agreement on is the participation of Edward Snowden in the case.
Konstantin von Notz, from the Green Party was the first initiator to invite Snowden on hearings. It seems only logical to him that the person who started the whole process should have a word in it. Christian Ströbele, the member of the same party, went to meet Edward Snowden in Moscow last fall and came back to Germany confirming Snowden's desire to testify. For him, it doesn't even matter where; he can do that straight from Moscow due to his complicated legal situation. The US has an international arrest warrant on Snowden and has issued an extradition request to Germany.
Despite the effort, Binninger is quite skeptical on whether Snowden can actually help in the process. Firstly, he has already told everything he knew. And secondly, because he has already answered all the questions of the European Parliament.
Yet some members of the parliament don't agree with that. For instance, Patrick Sensburg, a member of the German parliament with the CDU, believes that questioning Edward Snowden is very important and he is ready to cooperate with the journalists to make sure that the documents from Snowden would be available for the members of the committee.
For now, the committee is deciding on the examination of the witnesses. Due to that, the work of the committee might be delayed. In general, Chairman Binniger indicated a two-year framework for the investigation.
Binninger is being concerned about Snowden's role in the project and is planning on interviewing the experts first. And according to him it might take at least first couple of months.
"Mass surveillance of citizens will not be accepted," Binninger states and surveillance movement should be shifted from mass collection of data towards targeted individual cases.
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