The Germans can't believe something like this happened on their soil: A Mossad man analyzes | Listen

In an interview with Radio 103FM, former Mossad agent and author Shabtai Shavit analyzes the severe espionage affair in Germany, where former German intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maassen is suspected of running a private intelligence organization and selling classified documents. Shavit compares the case to a literary spy plot and describes how Maassen, who could have retired with honor, chose to get involved. He also links the affair to the Iraq war and the Israeli spy who was saved thanks to German intelligence intervention.

In an interview with Radio 103FM, former Mossad agent and author Shabtai Shavit analyzes the severe espionage affair in Germany, where Hans-Georg Maassen, the former head of German intelligence (BND), is suspected of running a private intelligence organization and selling classified documents. Shavit describes how Maassen, who could have retired with a respectable pension after eight years in the role, chose to get involved and operate a private spy network that sold information to the highest bidder, including to Azerbaijan, which borders Iran. According to him, Maassen selected documents on the Iranian weapons program. Shavit links the affair to the 2003 Iraq war, when Colin Powell spoke at the UN with presentations on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It turns out that the Iraqi source was recruited by Maassen, who passed him to the CIA. However, on the last page of the presentation, Maassen wrote that the source was a "pathological liar" and that they would not rely on his material. Shavit notes that Maassen will receive a lenient sentence given his age. Furthermore, he recalls how cooperation between intelligence agencies saved the life of Israeli spy Wolfgang Lotz in the 1960s, who was a German citizen. Shavit concludes that the German intelligence service is professional but plagued by scandals.