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Maaßen profile: The curious case of the spy who gave too much away

For a spymaster, Hans-Georg Maaßen seemed unusually receptive to the media - while secret agents typically work in the shadows, the head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency gave more interviews than any of this predecessors.

Published: 19 September 2018 08:39 CEST

Hans-Georg Maaßen leaving the Bundestag following a meeting on September 12th. Photo: DPA

As it turned out, it was an interview with Germany's best-selling daily Bild that cost the 55-year-old his job.

But the saga doesn't end there, as Maaßen will now take up a position as state secretary in the Interior Ministry – effectively a promotion as Zeit reports that he will earn €2,580 more per month in the new job.

After anti-migrant protests rocked the eastern city of Chemnitz in late August, Merkel firmly condemned a “hunt against foreigners” backed by videos circulating on social media, but Maaßen challenged the authenticity of at least one of the videos.

For critics, Maaßen's claim played into the hands of the far-right, such as the AfD party, which immediately seized on the spy chief's assessment to blast Merkel and mainstream media for maligning it and other like-minded protesters.

As pressure mounted on him to prove the video was a fake, Maaßen denied questioning its authenticity and said his quarrel was with how the original post on Twitter had oversold it as a “hunt against people” which he thought was intended to inflame tensions.

But the uproar raised questions over Maaßen 's neutrality, particularly as he has made no secret of his opposition to Merkel's liberal refugee policy that has allowed in more than a million asylum seekers since 2015.

It also made him a hero of right-wing extremists claiming Maaßen was a maverick with the courage to criticize Merkel, now in her 13th year as chancellor.

Legal expertise

Married to a linguist from Japan, Maaßen was born in Mönchengladbach, in North Rhine-Westphalia, close to the Dutch border.

The man with the round gold-rim glasses who favours three-piece suits is a trained lawyer who wrote a thesis on “the legal status of the asylum seeker in international law”.

He was heading the interior ministry's counter-terrorism team when the US was ready to free Murat Kurnaz, a Turkish citizen and German resident, from Guantanamo Bay after finding that accusations against him were groundless.

Berlin was reluctant to take Kurnaz back, and Maaßen at the time found the legal justification to bolster Germany's case as he argued successfully that the Turkish man had lost his residency rights because he had been away for more than six months from Germany – although this was due to Kurnaz's imprisonment.

Maaßen took over in 2012 as chief of Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BvF) in the aftermath of a devastating neo-Nazi cell scandal.

The agency's reputation was in tatters after it was revealed it shredded files related to suspects in the NSU (National Socialist Underground) cell that carried out a series of racist murders.

Maaßen said he felt like the “city building director of Cologne after World War II” as he took the helm.

Over the last six years, Maaßen turned the agency back into a respectable intelligence institution that politicians and the media turn to for assessments on risks for Germany.

With an eye on the Islamist threat, he viewed skeptically Merkel's decision in 2015 to keep Germany's borders open to asylum seekers.

He had warned as early as September 2015 that Islamists may recruit asylum seekers under the cover of providing humanitarian assistance.

But he came under intense pressure following a terror attack at a Berlin Christmas market in 2016 when Tunisian failed asylum applicant Anis Amri rammed a truck into crowds.

According to media reports, Maaßen wrongly claimed his service had no agent in Amri's circles, even though it had a source at a mosque the Tunisian frequented.

Contacts with the AfD

But it is his handling of the far-right AfD party that has proved most controversial.

Despite repeated calls for the BfV to formally place the AfD under surveillance, Maaßen has refused to do so.

A former AfD member has also accused him of having met repeatedly with the party's leaders to give advice on how to avoid being placed under surveillance – an allegation Maaßen and the far-right group have denied.

AfD leader Alexander Gauland told journalists this week he had three conversations with Maaßen about “overall security evaluations”. Maaßen did not give him advice, he added.

On Thursday,an AfD MP revealed that Maaßen gave him unpublished official data. The BfV rejected the claim.

For critics, the allegations made Maaßen 's position untenable.

Heribert Prantl of the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung noted that “among the worst things that can happen to a top domestic intelligence officer is for him to be accused of sympathy for a far-right party”.

New position

Despite the controversy, Maaßen has in fact landed on his feet. In a statement released late on Tuesday, the German government wrote: “The Office of the President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution will be re-filled.

“In future Mr. Maaßen will become a state secretary in the Interior Ministry. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has high regard for Mr. Maaßen's abilities on questions of domestic security, but he will not be responsible for the BfV within the ministry.”

There has already been some criticizm over the move by commentators who have questioned how Maaßen has been given this job despite the reservations over his behaviour.

However, it remains to be seen if Maaßen will continue to face intense scrutiny – and who will fill his shoes as top spy.

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Output is expected to expand 0.3 percent this year, the economy ministry said, up from a prediction of 0.2 percent in February.

The slightly rosier picture comes after improvements in key indicators — from factory output to business activity — boosted hopes a recovery may be getting under way.

The German economy shrank slightly last year, hit by soaring inflation, a manufacturing slowdown and weakness in trading partners, and has acted as a major drag on the 20-nation eurozone.

But releasing its latest projections, the economy ministry said in a statement there were growing indications of a “turning point”.

“Signs of an economic upturn have increased significantly, especially in recent weeks,” Economy Minister Robert Habeck said at a press conference.

The ministry also cut its forecast for inflation this year to 2.4 percent, from a previous prediction of 2.8 percent, and sees the figure falling below two percent next year.

“The fall in inflation will lead to consumer demand — people have more money in their wallets again, and will spend this money,” said Habeck.

“So purchasing power is increasing, real wages are rising and this will contribute to a domestic economic recovery.”

Energy prices — which surged after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine — had also fallen and supply chain woes had eased, he added.

Several months ago there had been expectations of a strong rebound in 2024, with forecasts of growth above one percent, but these were dialled back at the start of the year as the economy continued to languish.

‘Germany has fallen behind’

But improving signs have fuelled hopes the lumbering economy — while not about to break into a sprint — may at least be getting back on its feet.

On Wednesday a closely-watched survey from the Ifo institute showed business sentiment rising for a third consecutive month in April, and more strongly than expected.

A key purchasing managers’ index survey this week showed that business activity in Germany had picked up.

And last week the central bank, the Bundesbank, forecast the economy would expand slightly in the first quarter, dodging a recession, after earlier predicting a contraction.

German Economics Minister Robert Habeck

Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) presents the latest economic forecasts at a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday, April 24th. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Michael Kappeler

Despite the economy’s improving prospects, growth of 0.3 percent is still slower than other developed economies and below past rates, and officials fret it is unlikely to pick up fast in the years ahead.

Habeck has repeatedly stressed solutions are needed for deep-rooted problems facing Germany, from an ageing population to labour shortages and a transition towards greener industries that is moving too slowly.

“Germany has fallen behind other countries in terms of competitiveness,” he said. “We still have a lot to do — we have to roll up our sleeves.”

Already facing turbulence from pandemic-related supply chain woes, the German economy’s problems deepened dramatically when Russia invaded Ukraine and slashed supplies of gas, hitting the country’s crucial manufacturers hard.

While the energy shock has faded, continued weakness in trading partners such as China, widespread strikes in recent months and higher eurozone interest rates have all prolonged the pain.

The European Central Bank has signalled it could start cutting borrowing costs in June, which would boost the eurozone.

But Habeck stressed that care was still needed as, despite the expectations of imminent easing, “tight monetary policy has not yet been lifted.”

In addition, disagreements in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party ruling coalition are hindering efforts to reignite growth, critics say.

This week the pro-business FDP party, a coalition partner, faced an angry backlash from Scholz’s SPD when it presented a 12-point plan for an “economic turnaround”, including deep cuts to state benefits.

Christian Lindner, the fiscally hawkish FDP finance minister, welcomed signs of “stabilisation” in the economic forecasts but stressed that projected medium-term growth was “too low to sustainably finance our state”.

“There are no arguments for postponing the economic turnaround,” he added.