[ad_1]
Saturday 10th October 2020
Former Federal Intelligence Service chief Gerhard Schindler harshly criticizes Merkel’s handling of the 2015 refugee crisis in his book. “A timely signal to the countries of origin was needed,” he writes. But that’s not his only criticism.
Former BND President Gerhard Schindler harshly criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel’s policies in the 2015 refugee crisis. “Chancellor’s phrase ‘We can do it!’ It was not good in its generality ”, writes the former head of the Federal Intelligence Service in a book entitled“ Who’s Afraid of the BND? ”The sentence, although unintentionally, had a huge pull. Schindler also advocates a“ concept of integration. realistic “for the millions of people with Turkish roots in Germany.
The now 68-year-old was fired in connection with the matter of the US secret service NSA’s worldwide data tracing and the BND’s wiretapping against friendly states. He headed the German foreign intelligence service from early 2012 to June 2016. At that time, the Chancellery put Schindler on temporary retirement against his will. So far, he has made no major appearances criticizing refugee policy.
Schindler now writes of Merkel’s actions that at the beginning of the refugee crisis “a timely signal to the countries of origin would have been important, for example by closing the border with Austria.” Unfortunately, this did not happen, “mainly for fear of unpleasant television images on the German borders.” The “dogma of unconditionally keeping our borders open” was also justified by the fact that “in fact, a border closure is not possible at all. In the course of the Crown crisis, it worked!”
“Without wonder without exception” between colleagues
During his conversations with intelligence chiefs around the world, there was “without exception astonishment at the German approach,” reports Schindler since his tenure. In six months, the second half of 2015, “those responsible for this had managed to isolate Germany in Europe and divide society in Germany.” Now a further significant reduction in immigration and ongoing deportation of rejected asylum seekers and criminals is required.
In fact, Schindler had written a kind of memoir of his time at the BND. In examining the draft for possible confidentiality violations, the Foreign Ministry commented on or deleted numerous passages. From his point of view, the episodes described were no longer secret, says Schindler. But he didn’t want to sue his former employer. So he decided to write a nonfiction book on security.
Security architecture review
The former head of the BND calls for a general overhaul of the German security architecture. A far-reaching reorganization of the foreign secret service is necessary, as well as the protection of the constitution and the police. Because terrorism can no longer be sensibly separated at home and abroad, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution should be held accountable. A new technical secret service inspired by the US NSA, for example, is monitoring telecommunications. Schindler also suggests subordinating the BND to the Ministry of Defense rather than the Foreign Ministry.
The former head of the secret service also observes a growing parallel society among people with Turkish roots living in Germany. “We are not going to break with this dangerous trend of walking away from Germany and romanticizing Turkey with stricter demands.” He advocates allowing the Turkish state to run Turkish-speaking schools in addition to the German state schools. The requirement that imams paid by the Ministry of Religion in Ankara preach in German instead of Turkish is not necessary for security reasons. These sermons did not reveal any tendency towards violence, “in contrast to the Arab religious centers.” Another assessment by the former head of the BND is also surprising: the resistance to wearing a veil by teachers or judges “often turns this into a political statement.”
