Germany Turns to Typewriters to Secure Spying Probe

Even Probe of US Surveillance Subject to US Surveillance

As evidence of US spying and surveillance continues to mount, Germany is struggling to secure even basic government documents from prying American eyes, and are forcing officials to take some unusual steps.

Ironically, it is Germany’s ongoing parliamentary probe into US spying and surveillance that they believe would itself be most targeted by US spies, and panel chair Patrick Sensburg says the committee is using a non-electronic typewriter to keep internal communications secure from US digital surveillance.

The evidence is that US spying against top German officials is ubiquitous, and the probe is investigating not only past operations but ongoing ones, and doesn’t want to tip the US off as to exactly how much they know.

Germany has expressed support in the past for an EU-centric secure communications system to avoid the current system, riddled with NSA-imposed backdoors. That system may be years from operational, however, and in the interim secure communication means turning the clock back 40-50 years.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.