Germany limits cooperation with US over spy scandal

Iran Press TV

Sat Jul 12, 2014 3:30PM GMT

The German Chancellery has ordered the country's intelligence services to limit their cooperation with the United States amid the recent spy scandal, a media report says.

The Chancellery has limited the cooperation of the foreign intelligence service (BND) and the defense ministry with their US counterparts, the German tabloid Bild said Friday, citing sources in the security agencies.

The news comes a day after the German government expelled the CIA station chief in Berlin amid ongoing investigations into fresh allegations of US spying.

On July 9, German police officers raided properties in the Berlin area on 'initial suspicion of activity for an intelligence agency.' German media reported that the man being investigated was a soldier in the German army who had aroused the suspicion of the country's military counter-intelligence agency because of his close contacts with US spies.

A week earlier, an employee of Germany's BND was arrested on charges of spying for the US over a period of years.

The latest espionage cases come as a German parliamentary inquiry is currently being held to assess the extent of spying by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and its partners on Germans, and whether German intelligence aided the activities.

Last month, German federal prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into alleged unlawful US surveillance of Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone communications.

GMA/AB