Blueprints of German spy HQ stolen
Source: Agencies |
July 12, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Germany is worried the security of its new 1.6-billion euro (US$2.25 billion) intelligence agency headquarters has been compromised, after blueprints of the high-tech building mysteriously disappeared.
"It's a serious issue and the government is interested in clearing up this case as quickly as possible," Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said yesterday after Focus magazine reported the blueprints had been stolen.
The government has set up a committee to investigate the incident and how the blueprints to the nearly finished building in the government quarter, near where the Berlin Wall once stood, may have gone missing despite tight security, he said.
Seibert would not say whether the complex would have to be redesigned or rebuilt but added there would be "ramifications" if security had been compromised.
The disappearance of the sensitive blueprints is a huge embarrassment for the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany's foreign intelligence agency.
During the Cold War, West Germany's domestic and foreign intelligence services were penetrated by it's East German rival, the Stasi.
In the most high profile case, a Stasi agent worked as a personal aide to West German chancellor Willy Brandt, forcing him to resign in 1974.
The missing plans show highly sensitive areas of the BND's headquarters, including its logistical nerve center as well as anti-terror installations, sewers, cables and emergency exits.
The building, the most expensive and most high-tech government structure in Germany, is scheduled to be completed by 2014 and house about 4,000 workers.
"It's a serious issue and the government is interested in clearing up this case as quickly as possible," Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said yesterday after Focus magazine reported the blueprints had been stolen.
The government has set up a committee to investigate the incident and how the blueprints to the nearly finished building in the government quarter, near where the Berlin Wall once stood, may have gone missing despite tight security, he said.
Seibert would not say whether the complex would have to be redesigned or rebuilt but added there would be "ramifications" if security had been compromised.
The disappearance of the sensitive blueprints is a huge embarrassment for the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany's foreign intelligence agency.
During the Cold War, West Germany's domestic and foreign intelligence services were penetrated by it's East German rival, the Stasi.
In the most high profile case, a Stasi agent worked as a personal aide to West German chancellor Willy Brandt, forcing him to resign in 1974.
The missing plans show highly sensitive areas of the BND's headquarters, including its logistical nerve center as well as anti-terror installations, sewers, cables and emergency exits.
The building, the most expensive and most high-tech government structure in Germany, is scheduled to be completed by 2014 and house about 4,000 workers.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
