Germany's domestic intelligence service, the BfV, has contracted with the French company ChapsVision for big data analysis, bypassing the American company Palantir.
The real major upheaval, which completes the geopolitical shift behind Germany's preference for a French company in cyber intelligence but has escaped public attention, is actually happening within the corridors of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the Domestic Intelligence Service (BfV).
The Berlin-Washington-Tel Aviv axis, which presents an image of unwavering alliance to the outside world, is trying to overcome one of the most serious trust crises in its history due to deep factionalism and power struggles within the German intelligence services themselves.
Recently, the influence of "anti-CIA" and sovereignty-oriented cliques within both the BND and the BfV, which are distanced from, or even openly resisting, the operational agendas of the CIA and Mossad, has been noticeably increasing.
These factionalisms, inherent in every intelligence agency, have, in the case of Germany, transformed from institutional discontent into a reflex to protect operational independence.
The main argument of these nationalist and pro-sovereignty cliques within the agency is based on the idea that American and Israeli services view Germany not as an ally, but as an operational springboard and data pool.
Indeed, the existence and influence of these cliques are historically proven by critical revelations that have put their own institutions and American partners in a difficult position.
One of the most concrete examples of this institutional memory was the email and wiretapping scandal that erupted in 2015. The operation, which German media reported as "the BND targeted high-ranking French officials and the EU Headquarters with espionage activities on behalf of US intelligence," was in reality an American project carried out by one ally against another.
The BND had become so operationally subservient that it was wiretapping its European partners on behalf of the CIA and NSA. The force that leaked this global scandal to the press and sabotaged the operation was none other than the anti-CIA cliques within the BND (German Federal Intelligence Service), who were quietly organizing at the time and opposed the sacrifice of Germany's sovereignty to American subcontracting.
The same cliques thwarted one of the largest operations in cyber intelligence history in 2020. It was revealed that the BND and CIA had jointly monitored encrypted government communications in over 100 countries, including Turkey, for decades through the Swiss-based company "Crypto AG" (Operation Rubicon).
This historic revelation, which shook the world, did not occur through an external cyberattack or a foreign intelligence infiltration, but rather because the anti-CIA faction within the BND no longer wanted to continue this dirty partnership and exposed the dirty laundry. Disturbed by their own government being part of a global manipulation, these groups pulled the plug on the operation from within, dealing a severe intelligence blow to Washington.
The fact that the BfV (Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution) has now dismissed a CIA affiliate like Palantir for big data analysis and turned to a French alternative is the clearest internal evidence of this power struggle and the growing influence of anti-CIA cliques within the leadership.
This profound shift in alignment in Berlin confirms that American and Israeli hegemony, from cyber intelligence procurement to operational partnerships, has become an unbearable security and sovereignty burden for Germany.
