The Global Intelligence Files - Re: DISCUSSION GERMANY/CT-The Story Behind Germany's Terror Threat

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## Re: DISCUSSION GERMANY/CT-The Story Behind Germany's Terror Threat

Released on 2012-08-12 00:00 GMT

Email-ID | 1632874
Date | 2010-11-22 18:03:17
From | sean.noonan@stratfor.com
To | marko.papic@stratfor.com

From a small amount of research, I actually think they do a pretty good
job. Both French and German capabilities are very much overlooked. Thank
James Bond and Jack Bauer.
are you the analysis boss today?
On 11/22/10 10:58 AM, Marko Papic wrote:
In the more long-term, I think an analysis of the German intelligence
agencies would be good too. They have been pretty decimated by the Cold
War and by all the problems associated with running an intelligence
agency in a post-Gestapo country. If Germany is ever going to become a
world power again, however, they would need to overcome these deamons as
well. That is sort of the last straw for Germany, the one that is going
to be most sensitive to overcome. But perhaps this case may illustrate
how they are already overcoming these issues.
On 11/22/10 10:50 AM, Sean Noonan wrote:
Main problem is that Der Spiegel is just that good, they've at least
touched on most of what I would want to say about it. The main thing
here is how the politics of a terror threat/alert coincide with the
reality of the threat itself.
We saw that Germany was fairly relaxed bout the earlier threat in
Europe released by the US. I'm not sure if that was the same as the
info that the FBI passed over about this shia group, Saif (I don't
know anything about them). But something changed, as we noted last
week in their interpretation. That seems to go down to this virtual
walk-in. The one thing I was left confused about is whether BKA had
ever been in contact with this source before. It sounds like he cold
called them. It's common knowledge that walk-ins, rather than
recruits, are nearly always the best sources. But at the same time,
they are very suspicious as double agents. If this was a US source
they would be freaking the fuck out after having Al-Balawi turn on
them. The germans seem to have cooler heads, but they will be working
24/7 to verify the source (let me make another plug for John Lecarre's
A Most Wanted Man here, most of his career was in Germany).
They've clearly got enough corroborating information that they
consider this a real threat. But politically they are faced with the
universal 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' alert problem. If
the Interior ministry doesn't say something, they will be liable if an
attack occurs. Look at the constant press over information on the
warning intelligence for Mumbai. As we've said before, simply issuing
the warning may help to deter the attackers.
The real important bit here, is that it seems the germans have fairly
good intelligence. While this attack is still not happening tomorrow,
they have a lot of details about what might be in the works, rather
than a single-source intercept that indicates some vague threat. It
seems they've increased security pretty well at the Bundestag, and
want to add to the presence at any possible target. This is where we
seem them scrambling, and where their intelligence holes are.
The task now for the germans is to verify this source. Maybe even
pick him up and put him on ice somewhere (Fred/Stick?), not in GErmany
but in Pakistan/Afghanistan. That will require some cooperation with
either/both the Americans and Pakistanis. They also need to verify
all the bio information they have on these 4-6 guys trying to get into
germany and watch travelers very carefully. The germans seem to be
very good at surveilling these threats within Germany, so their best
luck may come when one of the guys overseas contacts a local already
under surveillance.
At minimum, this could be a pretty interesting tearline this week.
Both the walk-in issues and the CIA/FBI liaison conflicts that I
havne't gotten into here.
On 11/22/10 10:34 AM, Marko Papic wrote:
Any thoughts on where you guys are thinking of going with this?
Der Spiegel article is indeed interesting.
On 11/22/10 9:28 AM, Sean Noonan wrote:
Great report from Der Spiegel (thanks Mikey). I suggest anyone
interested to read the whole thing. They ask the right questions,
and while not as much detail as I hoped, give us a much better
understanding on the threat in Germany.
The BKA (germany's FBI) must be extremely busy verifying the
details of this virtual walk-in. It obviously caused the germans
to shit their pants. But the real questions are buried in the
article---how real was this plot, how real is the source, is the
source just trying to get back to the land of brezeln and bier?
Trying to double-cross them somehow?
Also note the tip off from the FBI (cue fred), not the usual CIA
liaison with BND.
For Eurasia, there's a lot in here on the internal politics of the
interior minister position, and the relation between state and
federal government.
On 11/22/10 8:55 AM, Michael Wilson wrote:
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [OS] GERMANY/CT-The Story Behind Germany's Terror
Threat
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2010 08:38:21 -0600
From: Graham Smith
Reply-To: The OS List
To: os@stratfor.com
11/22/2010 11:38 AM
Fears of a Mumbai Redux
The Story Behind Germany's Terror Threat
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,730377,00.html
By Matthias Bartsch, Yassin Musharbash and Holger Stark
Germany is currently in a state of high alert. Security
officials are warning that they have concrete information
pointing to a possible terror attack on the federal parliament
building in Berlin, a massively popular tourist attraction. The
days of Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere's reserved stances
in dealing with such warnings appear to be over.
The call came from abroad, and the man speaking hurriedly on the
other end of the line sounded as if he feared for his life. He
wanted out, he told the officers of the German Federal Criminal
Police Office (BKA) -- out of the terrorist scene. He wanted to
come back to Germany, back to his family. Then he asked if
German officials could help him.
Right now, they're trying to do just that. The BKA is pursuing
the case under the codename "Nova." The apparently remorseful
man could be an important possible whistleblower from a
dangerous region of the globe. In fact, he is also the most
recent reason why German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere
put the entire country in a state of fright on Wednesday.
During a hastily called press conference that day, de Maiziere
stated that Germany faced the threat of terrorist attacks that
might be launched against the country at some point in November.
As he put it, Germany is "presently dealing with a new
situation."
Just two days earlier, the source had called for the third time
in just a short period and provided more information. He told
officials that a small group of terrorists wanted to conduct a
raid on the Reichstag building in Berlin, which houses the
federal parliament, and that that was only one of the targets
included in their attack plans.
Germany on High Alert
Since then, Germany has been in a state of high alert. The
Reichstag is surrounded with barricades and its popular cupola
tourist attraction temporarily closed to visitors. Police armed
with submachine guns are patrolling major railway stations and
airports. And vacations have been called off for officials at
the country's security agencies. Wherever they have cause for
doing so, the authorities are secretly monitoring
communications, conducting surveillance operations and launching
undercover investigations. At the moment, investigators seem to
be at a loss; their modus operandi: "We'll prod the shrubs and
see if we can flush out any birds."
"There is cause for worry, but no cause for hysteria," de
Maiziere assured his listeners. But while he has never been much
of an agitator, his colleagues at the state level have described
the situation in much more drastic terms. Uwe Schu:nemann, for
example, who has been the interior minister of the northwestern
state of Lower Saxony since 2003, stated that he had "never
experienced a heightened security situation like this one." And
Berlin Senator for the Interior Ehrhart Ko:rting, whose position
is tantamount to that of a government minister in the
city-state, has already even gone so far as to call on the
inhabitants of the German capital city to report
suspicious-looking individuals of Arab origin to the police. "If
you suddenly see three somewhat strange-looking men who are new
to your neighborhood, who hide their faces and who only speak
Arabic," Ko:rting said, "you should report them to the
authorities."
Under heightened pressure, officials in Germany's 16 federal
states are now checking to see when and where major events are
scheduled to take place this coming week within their
boundaries. And nothing suggested as a possible target is being
discounted, no matter how unlikely. For example, officials in
Rhineland-Palatinate warned the state's interior minister, Karl
Peter Burch, that there was always a lot going on at IKEA stores
on Saturdays.[WTF]
Serenity, Scaremongering and Strategy
Since last week, German politicians at both the state and
federal levels have once again had to figure out how they will
handle themselves when making warnings about terrorist attacks.
They have had to come up with a language that can simultaneously
convey both an alert and a sense of calm.
This is no easy task. For one thing, this isn't the first time
this has happened. In September 2009, for example, right before
federal elections were held, there were concrete threats that
resulted in a heightened security situation. But, in the end,
nothing happened. This time around, people are wondering whether
they are on the precipice of an emergency or whether these are
once again empty threats.
Still, one thing is certain: For the time being, Germany has
become a different country -- more nervous, more anxious, more
agitated. And Germany's domestic security policies are being put
to the test.
When Interior Minister de Maiziere assumed his office in October
2009 in conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel's government, he
aimed to cool down the heated sense of alarm regularly fanned
out by his predecessors. What's more, the man who had served as
Merkel's chief of staff in Chancellery until being moved to the
role of interior minister in her new government, was given the
task of nurturing a more relaxed relationship between her party,
the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and its new coalition
partner, the business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP). In
particular, it was his job to not draw out the long-standing
conflict over domestic security policies with the Justice
Ministry, which has been led since the 2009 election by Sabine
Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, a member of the FDP. Indeed, Merkel
feared that the quarrelsome FDP might try to capitalize on the
issue to win over more voters, so she assigned de Maiziere to
prevent that from happening.
In fact, the plan was to repeat the same strategy that the CDU
and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU),
had used when they were in the so-called "grand coalition" with
the center-left Social Democratic Party, between 2005 and 2009.
At the time, they made a point of undermining the SPD by
championing what had traditionally been the latter party's
issues.
A Game-Changer
But now the game plan has changed. This November will
drastically alter de Maiziere's understanding of his role in
office. If he tries to return things to their previous state of
calm, he's going to have a very tough time. In fact, it's much
more likely that he will be a completely different interior
minister.
For a while now, de Maiziere's softer stance has prompted
opposition by politicians on the right involved with domestic
security issues. But they are now calling louder than ever for a
tougher course to be followed. Merkel is also adjusting to the
new situation and is reportedly happy with the way de Maiziere
handled himself last week. Likewise, no one seems to have voiced
any criticism last Thursday evening during a meeting of the
Coalition Committee, a regular gathering of the parties that are
part of the government.
The almost complete lack of protest has a lot to do with where
the alarming information is coming from. In fact, information
regarding the supposedly imminent attacks has come from two
independent sources. Shortly before receiving the telephone call
about the planned attacks, BKA officials had received a cable
from their American counterparts at the FBI, America's federal
police force, warning of possible attacks.
Still, what truth is there in these "security-related" pieces of
information coming from both domestic and foreign sources? And,
given all the discrepancies in the warning messages, just how
much do they deserve to be trusted? Indeed, even among security
officials themselves, there is some doubt about how legitimate
these statements are -- and about just how acute the danger
threatening Germany really is.
An Attack Modelled after Mumbai[plot details in this section]
What the caller reported was undeniably alarming. According to
him, al-Qaida and associated groups based in Pakistan were
making joint preparations for an attack in Germany. One idea was
to remotely detonate a bomb using a mobile phone. Another called
for a small group of terrorists to storm the Reichstag with guns
blazing, take hostages and end everything in one calamitous
bloodbath. Indeed, BKA officials learned that the latter plan
had been modeled on the storming of luxury hotels in Mumbai, the
Indian capital, almost exactly two years ago, in a massacre that
left 175 people dead.
According to the caller, the plan called for the terrorists to
procure the submachine guns, automatic rifles, explosives and
whatever else they would need to storm Germany's parliament
building in the Balkans. He said that two men had already
traveled to Germany six to eight weeks earlier, adding that one
had the nom de guerre of "Abu Mohammed" and that the other one
was a German of Turkish origin. Both apparently had roots in the
Greater Berlin metropolitan area, were currently unemployed and
living off of welfare payments and had immersed themselves in
the anonymity provided by a major city -- until the time should
come for their activation.
Likewise, there were allegedly four other volunteers --
including a German, a Turk, a North African and another jihadist
of unknown identity -- in the training camps run by al-Qaida and
related groups waiting for the signal to travel to Germany. And,
according to the telephone source, al-Qaida's plan was to attack
in February or March.
The only question now relates to just how credible the caller's
statements are. He is an insider who joined up with armed groups
several months ago and has earned a reputation as a fanatic
fighter.
But could it be that he is only trying to tell German officials
the juiciest things possible in order to raise his own market
value and thereby prompt them to extract him from the terror
scene? Or could it be that al-Qaida is even planning a second
spectacular coup like the one in December 2009, when the
Americans allowed a supposedly top-level turncoat onto an
American military base without any sort of pat-down, who went on
to detonate his explosive vest and blow seven CIA officials to
bits?
A Strange Message
A clear picture has yet to emerge. And one reason for this is
also the fact that it was only two weeks ago that the FBI first
decided to share information about another possible attack with
German officials.
In this case, even the way contact was made was unusual. Under
normal circumstances, liaisons from the CIA station in Germany
are the ones to communicate American warnings to their German
counterparts. But, this time around, it was an apparently
particularly anxious FBI that chose to directly notify the BKA.
The FBI told the Germans about an obscure Indian group called
"Saif," or "sword." Despite being a Shiite group, it had
allegedly made a pact with al-Qaida, a Sunni organization, and
sent five of its men to the Pakistani province of Waziristan for
training. According to the FBI, two volunteers -- who were
already equipped with visas allowing them to travel freely
within the 25 European countries belonging to the Schengen zone
-- were supposedly already en route to Germany and would enter
the United Arab Emirates on Monday, Nov. 22. There, they would
allegedly be provided with new travel documents before traveling
on to Germany. One of the men is supposedly named "Khan," which
is about as common in that part of the world as "Smith" is in
English-speaking countries. And no firm conclusion had been made
about their nationalities.
The FBI agents even named the presumed masterminds behind the
operation. A certain Mushtaq Altaf Bin-Khadri, who is in charge
of finances and training for "Saif," allegedly dispatched the
terrorist squad. But the FBI was not in a position to comment on
the targets of the two men in Germany.
One name came up time and again in the communique, and one that
pricked the Germans' ears: Dawood Ibrahim. The 54-year-old arms
trader is "India's most-wanted man." The US government has
listed him as a "global terrorist" and persuaded the United
Nations to place his name on a list of supporters of terror.
Ibrahim is rumored to be the head of D-Company, a criminal
syndicate named after himself, and is believed to be in charge
of smuggling the suspected terrorists into Germany.
Both the FBI and the BKA are attaching a lot of importance to
the information in the FBI communique. But the intelligence
services of the two countries -- the CIA in the United States
and the BND and Office for the Protection of the Constitution in
Germany, the country's foreign and domestic intelligence
agencies, respectively -- point to internal contradictions as
reasons for their skepticism. As they see it, for example, it is
highly unlikely that a Shiite group would team up with Sunni
terrorists, especially since a good part of al-Qaida propaganda
vilifies Shiites. Other reasons for doubt include the facts that
none of the intelligence agencies was previously familiar with
an organization called "Saif," that there have been no
previously recorded threats against Germany by Indian
extremists, and that the whole scenario seems rather
implausible.
On the other hand, the FBI information is uncommonly concrete.
In addition to the names of the suspects, it also provides
information about the exact day on which they are supposed to
arrive in the United Arab Emirates. Moreover, Ibrahim is
believed to be one of the men behind the terror attacks in
Mumbai. If he really is involved, that alone would be reason
enough for worry.
Abnormal Circumstances
Under normal circumstances, a message of this kind from the
United States would no doubt be cause for serious-minded
scrutiny, but it would not be a cause for alarm. For example,
the BKA would go through all recent visa applications, and
federal police officers would take a closer look at all the
people entering Germany from Arab states. And the intelligence
services would make the rounds to see if any of its partners had
any helpful information on the matter.
Indeed, under normal circumstances, there are always a lot of
these communiques, most of which turn out to be false alarms.
But these are no normal circumstances. Germany is in a state of
emergency. Other countries, such as the United States, employ a
system of official warning levels based on color codes that
change -- from yellow to orange, for example -- when the danger
level is thought to increase. But, in Germany, the interior
minister is the barometer: He consults with experts -- and then
it is he who must call the shots.
For the minister, a situation like this presents a dilemma. If
he remains silent and something happens, he's a failure. If he
makes loud warning and nothing happens, he's just a
rabble-rouser trying to push through controversial tougher
security laws. And, of course, the public never thanks you if
everyday life continues in a normal, peaceful way.
Absolute Security Remains a Pipe Dream
When de Maiziere became Germany's interior minister, he had
planned to lead the ministry in a level-headed way. For example,
he prefers to use phrases such as "internal calm" rather than
"internal security." And it was only six weeks ago that he
uttered the sentence: "There's no cause for alarm." But, since
then, the chorus of warning voices has only ballooned in size.
This change in course is the combined result of everything that
happened beforehand. It might very well turn out that the
alleged Indian terror squad stays home and that the raid on the
Reichstag never happens. But what will remain is a well-founded
supposition that there is a critical mass of terrorists in the
border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan that is thinking
about launching attacks in Europe -- and certainly in Germany,
as well.
Raw Nerves
Given such circumstances, there is a major sense of alarm among
German officials. Last Thursday, just a day after de Maiziere's
shocking press conference, the BKA issued a press release "in
connection with the current high-risk situation." It reported
that a piece of suspicious luggage had been discovered a day
earlier in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, before being loaded
onto a plane bound for Germany. The laptop bag contained
batteries, wires, a detonator and a clock -- in other words, all
the ingredients you need for a potential airborne catastrophe.
It sounded as if another terror plot had been foiled. Had there
been a plan to blow up Air Berlin Flight 7377 en route to
Munich? And had the authorities, yet again, discovered an
explosive device at the last minute? In the end, all the worry
was unfounded. As it turned out, the piece of luggage was a test
device built by a company that designs "real test" suitcases to
be used to test security measures. It remains unclear who
checked the bag in. But the fact that the BKA was so quick to go
into alarm mode -- and publicly so -- has been a communications
debacle.
Of course, these days, nobody wants to be the one that wasn't
sufficiently circumspect, the one who took too long to speak up.
No one wants a replay of situations like the one from the
beginning of November, when de Maiziere didn't know for hours
whether the package that had arrived at the Chancellery
contained actual explosives or was just a false alarm. Now, the
threshold for sounding the alarm is already much lower.
Bonded by Fear
Of course, you can never be too sure. Over the last 12 months, a
series of attacks concocted in the Afghan-Pakistani border
region have been foiled in the West. For example, in May, a car
bomb set in New York's Times Square by a man with ties to the
Pakistani Taliban failed to properly detonate. In Copenhagen,
al-Qaida had made plans to storm the offices of the
Jyllands-Posten newspaper as revenge for its 2005 publishing of
caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. In October 2009, David
Headley, an American citizen with Pakistani roots, was arrested
after having already visited the newspaper's offices in order to
scout them out before the planned attack. Other targets
reportedly included the subway systems of New York City and
Washington.
On the other hand, absolute security is a pipe dream. For
example, British authorities had even conducted rehearsals for
how to respond to possible attacks. But, even so, when attacks
claiming 56 lives (including those of four attackers) did strike
London, on July 7, 2005, they were unable to prevent them.
Likewise, US intelligence services had warned India a number of
times that terrorists were planning attacks in Mumbai.
The new situation in Germany has at least had one positive side
effect: For the time being, the traditionally quarrelsome
interior ministers from both the state and the federal levels
have refrained from their usual bickering. Following informal
talks held last Thursday in Hamburg, Minister Bruch of
Rhineland-Palatinate noted that he had "never experienced such
harmony within this group" that has apparently been bonded
together by their shared fear.
Translated from the German by Josh Ward
--
Sean Noonan
Tactical Analyst
Office: +1 512-279-9479
Mobile: +1 512-758-5967
Strategic Forecasting, Inc.
www.stratfor.com
--
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Marko Papic
Geopol Analyst - Eurasia
STRATFOR
700 Lavaca Street - 900
Austin, Texas
78701 USA
P: + 1-512-744-4094
marko.papic@stratfor.com
--
Sean Noonan
Tactical Analyst
Office: +1 512-279-9479
Mobile: +1 512-758-5967
Strategic Forecasting, Inc.
www.stratfor.com
--
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Marko Papic
Geopol Analyst - Eurasia
STRATFOR
700 Lavaca Street - 900
Austin, Texas
78701 USA
P: + 1-512-744-4094
marko.papic@stratfor.com
--
Sean Noonan
Tactical Analyst
Office: +1 512-279-9479
Mobile: +1 512-758-5967
Strategic Forecasting, Inc.
www.stratfor.com