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The headquarters of the Defense Intelligence Agency at Bolling Air Force Base in the US state of Washington.
IMAGO/piemags
A US agent has been arrested by the FBI because he wanted to defect to Germany. He offered confidential information by e-mail - until Berlin blew the whistle on him.
An agent of the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has been arrested by the FBI. He had offered Germany confidential information by e-mail and wanted to defect. This was the result of an investigation by WDR, NDR and the "Süddeutsche Zeitung".
The intelligence service employee wrote: "I am deeply concerned about the latest measures taken by the current government." He also wanted to "stand up for the values that the United States once stood for" and therefore offered confidential information.
According to the US Department of Justice, the 28-year-old was finally arrested when he was in the process of handing over sensitive documents to an undercover FBI agent. He is said to have been in contact with this agent for some time.
Apparently, the DIA agent mistook his colleague at the FBI for a representative of the "friendly government". However, the Ministry of Justice did not confirm that this was Germany.
According to the research, the agent had previously contacted the German foreign intelligence service BND. The BND apparently did not respond to the offer, but forwarded the request to the US government. A BND spokesperson did not want to confirm the incident. However, this "does not indicate whether the facts are correct or not".
