24 August 2000. Thanks to Anonymous.
The German Defense Ministry said today that unspecified charges will be filed against a former Military Intelligence Agency (MAD) undercover agent for publishing information on the Internet about a MAD investigation of German right wing extremist groups.
Lt. Col. Buch in the Public Affairs office of the Defense Ministry in Berlin (49 30 20 04 8320), said that charges will be made against Michael P., the former undercover agent (V-mann in German). Col. Buch would not specifiy what charges will be made or when.
Informed of the Defense Ministry's statement, Michael P. said that he has broken no German or other laws by disclosing the information published on the Internet. He also said that the defense ministry's statement appear to be a public relations initiative to divert attention from the German government's past negligence in following up on information obtained by the undercover investigation. And that the defense ministry is trying to head off his promised further disclosures by intimidation through the media.
Michael P. said that to counter the German government carrying through threats of charges and arrest, he has placed in secure locations in the US and elsewhere at least three copies of the evidence he collected during the undercover investigation which will be made public by others if he is prevented from doing so.
He said that he has not been directly contacted by the German government since his disclosures on the Internet.
24 August 2000
Cryptome spoke by telephone with Lt. Col. Buch in the Defense Ministry who said that he had spoken earlier with a caller about the Michael P. case who may have misunderstood him concerning the ministry filing charges against Michael P.
Col. Buch said he wished to correct any misunderstanding: that no charges can be filed against an anonymous party in Germany, that the ministry will not file charges unless a party is identified, and that the ministry has no further comment on the case at this time.
Michael P. responded to this change on filing charges by the ministry as being due to its wish to avoid court testimony on illegal spying by the Military Intelligence Agency on domestic political parties, which is forbidden by the German Constitution. He thinks Col. Buch was probably told by his superiors to avoid the topic of criminal charges.
Michael P. claims that when first asked to perform undercover work he asked his superior if the work would be legal, and that he was told it was his duty to do as ordered. He said that after the work was completed he was prevented by the military from testifying in a German Parliamentary hearing on his undercover work by invoking the claim that the investigation was a military secret. He said that military secrecy was used to prevent disclosure of an illegal operation, and that it is this illegal activity that the defense ministry is now trying to conceal by avoiding public court testimony about such operations, which he believes are continuing.
Such secret military and intelligence investigations of US citizens were conducted in the US until forbidden by legislation enacted as a result of the Church Committee hearings in the 1970s. Despite this legislation questions about spying on US persons by US intelligence agencies have arisen recently concerning the Echelon and other electronic interception programs of the National Security Agency and the Carnivore program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.