German spy agency can keep COVID origins intel secret, court rules

The Federal Intelligence Service is not obliged to publish its information on the origin of the worldwide Coronapandemie. This could damage the "foreign interests of the Federal Republic".

German spy agency can keep COVID origins intel secret, court rules

Federal court rejects newspaper's request for information on BND's 2020 report, which reportedly concluded that COVID-19 was most likely accidentally leaked from a Chinese lab.

Secret remains secret: The Federal Intelligence Service does not have to share its findings on the origin of the Corona virus with the media, decides the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig and thus rejects an urgent request from Springer. The secret service has "plausiblely explained" that the desired information could allow conclusions on knowledge sources as well as skills and working methods of the BND and also have "significant effects …

© Maria Sbytova / Adobe Stock BVerwG: BND does not have to publish findings on the origin of SARS-CoV-2 – protection of intelligence work prevails.

The BND does not have to say what he knows about the origin of the Corona pandemic. Previously, a publishing house had tried to file the information. The Federal Administrative Court refused – also because the German-Chinese relations could suffer. This post laboratory theory BND did not have to make findings about Corona origin public was published on Junge Freiheit.

The Federal Intelligence Service may keep its findings on the origin of the Coronavirus secret. The Federal Administrative Court ruled that the public interest outweighs the press's claim for information. Disclosure could jeopardise the functioning of Germany and its diplomatic relations.