US Agencies Aided German Terror Probe

The CIA and NSA played a marquee role in last week’s capture of three men suspected of planning major terror attacks in Germany. For several months, Angela Merkel’s chief of staff held a weekly meeting about the plotters, Der Spiegel reports, and the cooperation was so significant that the German chancellor even met with George Bush about the matter.

The US agencies provided months of messages between the alleged plotters and their Pakistani contacts; their joint task force with the Germans then bugged cars, analyzed trips to the Middle East and issued public warnings in response to misinterpreted messages. Prior even to the inter-agency cooperation on so-called Operation Alberich, the suspected mastermind had been trailed for years due to his ties to a radical Islamist group. (More Germany stories.)