Overview
- Holger Stark’s book and interviews report that the BND monitored Barack Obama’s in‑flight phone calls over several years by exploiting weak encryption and about a dozen known Air Force One frequencies.
- The operation proceeded without authorization from the chancellery, and Angela Merkel was reportedly not informed.
- Transcripts were created in a single copy for a small BND leadership circle and were intended to be destroyed after reading.
- The reported intercepts also included calls by then–Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and some U.S. military personnel.
- The chancellery halted monitoring of the U.S. presidential aircraft in 2014, and the BND has declined to confirm or deny the details publicly.