THE COMBAT OF CRIME - A NEW ROLE FOR GERMAN INTELLIGENCE?
The Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND),Germany's foreign intelligence service, is to play a role in investigating internationally operating criminals.
This is the aim of a draft bill proposed by the legal and Home Affairs experts of the government-coalition parties CDU/CSU and FDP. The draft bill authorises the BND to conduct intelligence activities on terrorist actions, arms smuggling, drug trafficking, counterfeiting and laundering of money originating from the criminal activities above. Initially, the coalition partners intended to legalise only the communication of "accidental finds" by the BND to the criminal prosecution authorities.
The draft bill represents a further step in a growing trend, in Germany, to blur the lines between the formerly distinct roles of police and secret services (see FECL No.4,p.3; No.20, p.1).
Source: Weser Kurier, 3.2.94.