You may have heard about one of the biggest spy stories in recent times, involving a Swiss manufacturer of encryption equipment sold to governments around the world. When the story broke in February, it was revealed that the Swiss company was in fact owned and controlled by the CIA and the BND, Germany’s spy agency (see my blog post ‚a Swiss spy story’ of 13 February 2020).
Now it was revealed that the Swiss governments was not only aware but complicit, listening in on all the encrypted messages by nations thinking that they were using equipment by a neutral and unbiased provider. This will no doubt lead to the inevitable questions about Swiss neutrality and its role as a go between, not least between sparring nations such as Iran and the United States.
The office of the Swiss Federal Prosecutor has now been cleared to conduct a thorough investigation. I think it is unlikely that we will ever learn the full details of the story, after all too many professionals in undercover operations have been involved and no one, and probably least the nations spied on, will want to have their dirty laundry washed in public. As far as Switzerland is concerned, only time will tell whether and how much the scandal has tarnished its reputation as a supposedly unbiased mediator on the international stage.
The grumpy older man 