NSA Scandal: Parliamentary Spying Inquiry Poses Challenges

[unhappycamper]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/germany-faces-challenges-in-investigating-nsa-spying-a-930639.html



New details continue to emerge over alleged US spying in Germany. A parliamentary investigation could provide clarity - but it also has limitations. The issue constitutes the first stress test for a future coalition government.

NSA Scandal: Parliamentary Spying Inquiry Poses Challenges
By Veit Medick and Annett Meiritz
October 29, 2013 – 03:06 PM

The list is long: There have been 39 investigatory committees in the history of the German Federal Republic. Soon that number may rise to 40. The center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the far-left Left Party and the Greens have insisted on a parliamentary inquiry into the activities of US intelligence agencies in Germany. The conservatives are committed, at the very least, not to hinder such a probe. That leaves the door wide open for one.

All participants know that such an investigatory committee would be unprecedented in that it would be dealing with the fundamental problems of the digital age. It would be different from prior committees. And because there is a desire to send a multi-party signal of protest to Washington, it is hard to get around it.

On the other hand, the committee could quickly reach its investigatory limits. Because how useful is an investigation that would largely have to make do without witnesses or files from overseas? How should an honest evaluation work if the two biggest parties are forming a new government and therefore acting in unison? And what exactly should be investigated?

There are four problems standing in the investigation's way. The first is that it complicates ongoing talks to form a new government.