The German parliament plans to tighten its oversight of the country’s intelligence services in a attempt to win back voters’ trust after the NSA and NSU scandals.
Proposed reforms will see changes to rules on how intelligence services and government leaders report to the commission that makes sure intelligence bodies work within the law.
Public trust in security services is at an all-time low after revelations from whistleblower Edward Snowden last summer raised suspicions that the German foreign intelligence service the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) had been passing on German citizens’ communications data to the NSA.
Grave criticisms were also levelled at the domestic intelligence service, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, for its handling of the NSU neo-Nazi terror cell, which went on a ten-year killing spree despite being monitored by the security services.
“Since the events surrounding the NSA and the NSU came to light, normal citizens have had doubts about whether the oversight of the intelligence services by their representatives is working,” Social Democrat (SPD) legal affairs spokesman Burkhard Lischka told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung on Monday. (more)
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http://www.thelocal.de/20140304/new-rules-to-reign-in-spy-services
Source: The Local