CIA chief in Berlin leaves US embassy over spying row

The CIA chief of station in Berlin, the head intelligence officer in the US embassy, has left the country a week after being ordered to do so by the German government.

Berlin demanded the move after discovering two reported double agents selling information to the US from inside the foreign intelligence service (BND) and the defence ministry.

Yesterday the foreign ministry in Berlin confirmed it had been contacted by the US embassy with news of the intelligence officer’s departure.

‘Appropriate’

The affair has ruffled diplomatic feathers in the US, particularly as reports indicate the BND double agent was handled not out of Berlin but by CIA agents operating from the

Vienna

embassy. German government spokesman

Steffen Seibert

has brushed off the complaints, describing the departure demand as the “usual, appropriate diplomatic behaviour of a government when such situations arise”.

He made clear that Berlin did not view the episode as closed with yesterday's departure. After a year of revelations, Mr Seibert indicated serious strain in the Berlin-Washington relationship and said "deep differences of opinion" remained.

Opposition politicians have said the departure demand was an indication of Berlin’s helplessness after a year of revelations and refusals by Washington to provide answers.

“The chancellor has allowed herself to be thrashed by the US president on NSA matters,” said Dr Sahra Wagenknecht, deputy parliamentary leader of the Left Party, demanding that Berlin end all intelligence co-operation with the US.