The President of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), Bruno Kahl, sees his authority in a different role compared to the services of partner countries. “We are not a secret service, but an intelligence service,” Kahl told the “Tagesspiegel”. “Our British and French colleagues, especially Americans and Israelis, are also operationally more robust services. We don’t have a license to kill. Our job is to gather information.”
By his own admission, Kahl sees no lasting damage to the company’s image as a result of the case of a senior BND employee who was exposed last year as a Russian spy. Friendly services should not have any concerns that the findings transmitted to the BND are not reliable. “Perhaps there was this concern at the beginning. But it is the task of the BND leadership to take this fear seriously and to refute it.” This was achieved by dealing openly with one’s own vulnerability. “When the partners noticed that we weren’t fooling them, that strengthened the basis of trust.”
Most recently, the SPD and FDP traffic light groups in particular have criticized the fact that the BND, unlike partner services, was informed too late about the revolt by the head of the Wagner mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, against Russian President Vladimir Putin. After an appearance on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Kahl received backing. In the interview, he called allegations that the BND did not master his job “a German peculiarity”.
With a view to cyber threats from Russia or China, Kahl also commented on whether he would install the Tiktok video app, which is particularly popular with young people and is operated by a Chinese company: “My daughters are grown. But if you asked me , I would paternally advise against it.”
