Germany's Former Spy Chief Suspected of Forgetting Which Side He Was Spying For

A former head of Germany's intelligence service is under investigation on suspicion of espionage, raising an awkward question for an organisation whose entire purpose is discovering what people are hiding. The agency responsible for protecting national secrets now faces allegations involving someone who once had access to its most sensitive information. Apparently, keeping an eye on everyone becomes considerably harder when the person worth watching used to run the surveillance department.

Intelligence agencies spend enormous amounts of public money tracking threats, analysing suspicious behaviour and explaining why ordinary citizens should accept increasingly sophisticated surveillance. Yet the possibility of trouble within their own leadership presents a rather embarrassing problem.

One imagines the emergency meetings: serious officials sitting around expensive tables, discussing how an organisation dedicated to knowing everything somehow managed to miss something rather important. There will undoubtedly be investigations, security reviews and reassuring statements about lessons being learned. Perhaps even a special committee to investigate why the previous committees failed to notice anything.

The public, meanwhile, can take comfort in knowing that Germany's intelligence services remain deeply committed to uncovering secrets. Especially, it seems, their own.