BERLIN — An emerging scandal over a possible U.S. informant in the German intelligence service is threatening to spark a fresh rift between Washington and one of its closest allies over an explosive question here: Should friends spy on friends?
German politicians and media expressed mounting outrage Saturday, a day after reports in the German press that a 31-year old man arrested Thursday by German authorities was a mid-level member of German intelligence who passed state secrets to the United States. Authorities have not openly named the “foreign power” connected to the arrest, though the U.S. ambassador to Berlin, John B. Emerson, was summoned by the Foreign Ministry on Friday to offer “swift clarification” of the case.