Critics have accused Merkel's staff of giving the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) foreign intelligence agency the green light to help the NSA spy on European firms and officials, triggering a scandal that has dented the chancellor's popularity.
Gabriel said in an interview with Bild am Sonntag newspaper that the German parliament needed to see the list, which contains "selectors" such as names, search terms and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, the unique identifiers that enable computers to communicate via the Internet.
Calls to petition for Merkel's resignation--will it effectuate structural change in how #BND works& oversight?#NSAUA https://t.co/2yYEbXKUQV
— Diani Barreto (@deCespedes) May 13, 2015
The government has said it must consult with Washington before revealing the list, whose contents are considered crucial to establishing whether the BND was at fault in helping the NSA.
Spying is a sensitive issue in Germany because of the abuses of the Nazi eras. Revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden about wide-ranging US espionage in Germany caused outrage when they surfaced, and this has now been compounded by the allegation that the BND was complicit.
According to Reuters, Gabriel, who is also vice chancellor, said:
"Imagine if there were suspicions that the NSA had helped the BND to spy on American firms. Congress wouldn't hesitate for a second before looking into the documents."
SPD General Secretary Yasmin Fahimi told the Tagesspiegel newspaper Germany should not "beg" the United States for permission to disclose the list, and Merkel "shouldn't be subservient to the USA."
News magazine Der Spiegel said the issue had driven a wedge between Gabriel and the SPD's Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is also foreign minister.
German inquiry: #NSA is cited 1,671 times, #BND 1,782, #CIA 179, #Snowden 204 & Angela #Merkel 14 times https://t.co/aJnEFcUKRM #NSAUA
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 12, 2015
Its report, which did not cite its sources, said while Gabriel was calling for the list to be released despite possible US resistance, Steinmeier did not think this advisable and had called the SPD leader to express his concerns.
Conservative politician Patrick Sensburg, who heads a parliamentary committee investigating the NSA affair, accused the SPD of political point-scoring. He said he was sure Berlin would find a way to let committee members see the list but this would not be enough, as it also needed explanations of why certain search terms were chosen.
Patriot Games
Adding to the criticism waged at Merkel’s staff for giving the German intelligence agency the green light to help the NSA spy on European firms and officials, WikiLeaks has released 1,380 pages of documents from the BND committee hearing on the extent of the NSA's collaboration with the German agency.
The documents include interviews with senior staff of the BND, NSA and Deutsche Telekom. However, these transcripts aren't going to be made available until the end of the investigation – which has already been going on for a year.
Officials in Germany are still examining what the NSA has been doing with its country’s data. According to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, Patrick Sensburg, BND's NSA committee chair, is concerned the WikiLeaks transcript revelations could be harmful to the investigation. Hans-Georg Maaßen, head of Germany’s domestic security agency, said he will pursue a criminal investigation.
Meanwhile, the US House has voted to strike the section of the Patriot Act which allows access and mass collection of American phone records. Legislation to end the NSA's collection of metadata, detailing the telephone calls made by Americans, was approved.
Meanwhile, the US House has voted to strike the section of the Patriot Act which allows access and mass collection of AmericanS' phone records.
