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Operation Rubicon

The Greatest Intelligence Coup of the 20th Century

The BND’s Operation Rubikon, a joint project with the CIA’s Operation MINERVA, was the greatest intelligence coup of the 20th century, according to intelligence experts. The U.S. CIA and the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) used tampered encryption devices to eavesdrop on communications from more than 120 countries—and did so for many decades.

It wasn’t until 2020 that this global intelligence scandal was leaked. However, the information released at that time is only the tip of the iceberg. Additional classified documents, research by numerous scholars, and operational files from the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) now reveal new and significant achievements of Operation Rubikon and the BND’s subsequent signals intelligence operations. But what makes the world’s largest intelligence operation so insidious, and what does it reveal about the future of global surveillance and espionage?

Intelligence expert Erich Schmidt-Eenboom has examined and reanalyzed the current state of knowledge regarding the German-American joint venture. To this end, Südwestrundfunk has now produced an in-depth ten-part podcast that will delve further into the new findings on Operation Rubikon starting October 3.



PARTICIPANTS

Erich Schmidt-Eenboom BND intelligence expert

Gerhard Schindler Former BND President

MODERATOR

Prof. Dr. Helmut Müller-Enbergs Political scientistTranslated with DeepL

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