| In summary: everybody does it, the crime is getting caught. |
The German intelligence agency BND has already been accused of eavesdropping on officials at the French foreign ministry and presidency, as well as the European Commission, on behalf of its U.S. counterpart, the NSA.
Public radio RBB and Spiegel Online had earlier claimed that the BND had also spied on its own account on several embassies and administrations of "European states and allies".
Spiegel, without giving any sources, said Saturday that "the BND had systematically spied on 'allies' across the world, including on the interior ministries of the United States, Poland, Austria, Denmark and Croatia."
It said the spying targets included the U.S. delegation at the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
in Brussels and the UN in New York, the U.S. Treasury, and several embassies in Germany -- including those of the U.S., La Belle France, Britannia, Sweden, Portugal, Greece, Spain, Italia, Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
, Austria and the Vatican.
It also spied on the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Thingy and Oxfam, Spiegel said.
Germany had reacted with outrage when information leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden showed that U.S. agents were carrying out widespread tapping worldwide.
But the BND soon came under fire itself over claims that it had carried out spying on European allies on behalf of the NSA.
Belgium and the Netherlands in June launched probes into the claims of espionage.