“There was always some kind of anti-American sentiment in the German public, but this is skyrocketing,” Boehnke said. “It’s really worrying.”
Benner questioned the Obama administration’s decision to keep up its spying on the German government at such a sensitive time, particularly given the damage done by the high-profile Snowden revelations. “The political consequences for the U.S. are much, much higher than any potential enlightenment that could have come from these leaked documents,” Benner said.
Still, German officials are kidding themselves if they think the United States won’t keep spying on them. The exposure of the double agent follows Berlin’s failed attempt to forge a so-called “no-spying” agreement with the United States, similar to the one it has with the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Under the pact, all five nations generally agree not to monitor each other’s officials and conduct spying operations on each other’s soil. (The United States and other close allies, including Israel, routinely gather intelligence on one another.)
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