German Spy Chief to Testify Next Week in NSA Snooping Scandal

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The open hearing will take place in Berlin at 11:30 a.m. local time (9:30 GMT) on May 21.

"Lawmakers expect his testimony to shed light on when BND chiefs first learned that the NSA had been providing the German foreign intelligence for years with lists of selectors – search terms like IP addresses and phone numbers – that allegedly violated German and European interests," the parliament said.

The same year, the BND admittedly rejected some 2,000 selectors that it believed violated laws of the land. As many as 40,000 suspicious selectors were declined since early 2015.

A major point of contention is whether the parliamentary committee will be granted access to the lists of US targets in Europe before the May meeting. Last week, the Greens threatened to sue Merkel in the constitutional court if she continues to withhold this evidence from the investigative authority.

His employees gave evidence on BND-NSA operations last week. The hearing revealed a striking lack of oversight that allowed US agents to harvest data about European businesses and governments using the Bad Aibling facility with little control from German officials.