Intelligence chief Bruno Kahl testifies in the trial against a Russian mole in the BND. He calls the case “one of the worst things that can happen.”

Chairman of the Federal Intelligence Service BND, Dr. Bruno Kahl, guest at the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag in Berlin, July 5, 2023 Photo: Leon Kuegeler/photothek/imago

SEDAN taz | Bruno Kahl doesn't mince words. The case was “of course a catastrophe” for his office, the BND president explained Wednesday in the Berlin Chamber Court, sitting at a small wooden table with a black briefcase next to him. “An insider is one of the worst things that can happen to an intelligence service.”

Kahl said this on Wednesday as a witness in a trial in which the largest German espionage case in recent times has been negotiated since December. In December 2022, the head of the department, Carsten L., responsible for technical intelligence and personnel security, was arrested. The accusation: serious treason. In the fall of 2022, Carsten L. would have handed over internal BND documents to the Russian FSB secret service, in the middle of the war of aggression against Ukraine. Shortly afterwards an alleged accomplice, Arthur E., a windy businessman and acquaintance of Carsten L., was arrested. He is said to have taken the documents to Moscow.

Shortly after, Kahl recognized the explosiveness of the case: Russia was facing an actor who acted “without scruples and willing to use violence.” In an interview with daily mirror In July 2023 he stated: Only “very limited” information was transmitted, including no material from partner services. Confidence in these services has now been “quite strengthened” thanks to open processing.

In the courtroom, this is easily picked up by the defendants' defense attorneys: So the alleged betrayal wasn't so bad after all? Kahl reflects and tries to make a comparison: even a plane crash in which 20 out of 100 people survived is still a catastrophe. Worse still he could have been an agent of an opposing service who had been infiltrated in the BND for years. However, Kahl claims that little data only reached Russia for a short period of time, in the fall of 2022.

450,000 euros for betrayal

However, following the betrayal, partner services shared less information and the BND suffered “serious damage to its reputation.” The case was also “a disgrace” for the federal government. I wanted to capture this again with the interview. When defense lawyers investigated exactly what damage had occurred, Kahl clammed up: he was only allowed to say this in a private meeting. The defense insists on publicity, but the court decides in the afternoon: the hearing will continue in private.

But first Kahl admitted that Carsten L. had a “good reputation” in the position. He was considered competent, a “good leader.” Only later did it emerge that the 53-year-old was actually dissatisfied with his work, a possible reason for the treason charge. Another would be financial: Carsten L. would have received 450,000 euros from Russia for his services.

Carsten L. himself remains silent about the accusations, closely following the statements of his former president and taking notes. His co-defendant Arthur E. revealed it at the trial: Carsten L. would have taken a private mobile phone with him to the BND and with it he would have photographed the documents, results of a Russian messaging application that the Wagner group used. Kahl also does not want to comment publicly on the material that was broadcast.

According to Johannes Eisenberg, Carsten L.'s defense lawyer, who also represents the taz before press law, it is still unclear whether the leaked data actually comes from Carsten L. It is also possible that the matter was orchestrated by a foreign secret service. to force the federal government to provide more weapons to Ukraine. The trial is scheduled to last until July.