FOR YEARS the building site in central Berlin has been hidden from view behind high wooden hoardings. Dozens of expensive-looking security cameras scan every approach road, all visitors are closely screened and the builders have undergone thorough background checks – as have the neighbours.
Nothing was left to chance for the new €790 million headquarters of Germany’s secret service, the BND, scheduled to open in 2014. That is until yesterday’s revelations that plans for the new high-security building have vanished.
Focusmagazine reported that the plans contained such sensitive information as the location of alarms, emergency exits and anti-terrorism equipment. In addition, the blueprints reportedly detailed internal cable layouts and logistics equipment.
The data, stored on a USB stick, was stolen a year ago and forced a rapid redesign of the site during construction, at huge extra cost and causing months of delay.
The agency has declined to comment on the report, though the most likely thief is another intelligence service.
“This is a serious situation,” said government spokesman Steffen Seibert yesterday.
“The government has keen interest in clarifying this situation quickly.”
The German government has ordered a complete investigation and has asked for a revision of security measures at the site.
In 2003 the federal government decided to move the BND and its 4,000 employees from its current base near Munich to Berlin.
The new complex is rising on a vast 260,000sq m (2.8 million sq ft)complex once occupied by East Germany’s Stadium of World Youth.
Yesterday opposition politicians said the reports were a “huge loss of face” for Germany’s secret service and the government.
“If the most sensitive constructive work cannot be kept secret, [the government] has to react, in particular if the plans disappeared a year ago,” said Thomas Oppermann, parliamentary head of the opposition Social Democrats.
The blueprint theft was not the only reason for red faces yesterday.
A key adviser to BND president Ernst Uhrlau has been accused of using his work computer to download pornography.
The worker came under suspicion in March during a routine check by technical staff. They found he had also made purchases on eBay, breaching strict security prohibiting such private activities on work computers.
Security breaches have plagued the BND site from the start.
For months last year security staff were puzzled by nightly break-ins to the high-security site.
The culprit was eventually found: a racoon.