Overview
- Holger Stark reports that Germany’s BND intercepted Barack Obama’s phone calls while he was aboard Air Force One by exploiting less secure airborne communications and tracking roughly a dozen frequencies.
- The reporting says interceptions also captured communications by then–Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. military officials.
- According to Stark, the operation lacked chancellery authorization, Angela Merkel was not informed, and the United States was not on the BND’s official target list.
- Transcripts were reportedly produced in a single copy for a small leadership circle, then destroyed after reading, with takeaways folded into broader assessments sent to the government.
- The BND and the German Chancellery declined public comment, and there is no independent official confirmation; the claims appear in Stark’s book published January 2 and in interviews released January 4.