Wolfgang Bretschneider, AGSR Fellow
AGI is pleased to welcome Wolfgang Bretschneider as an AGI/GMF Fellow with the American-German Situation Room in Washington, DC, in February-March 2018. Dr. Wolfgang Bretschneider is an economist at both …
Pick Your Fights Wisely: The Value of Transatlantic Intelligence Cooperation
Chancellor Merkel’s recent visit to Washington, DC, created a number of quite remarkable moments that will be remembered as they marked a new tone in transatlantic relations. Not least, the …
New Cyberattacks in Germany: The Elephant Is Already in The Room
The Romans were shouting “Hannibal at the gates” when the famous general from Carthage tried to conquer their city with elephants in 218 BC. Today’s cyber-warriors and cyber-criminals are already …
Surveillance in the cyber sphere: In an age of terror, should privacy always be negotiable?
Hours after the Orlando shooting, the world knew where Omar Mateen had taken his cell phone in the days and months before the massacre. To Disney World with his son, …
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Support Our WorkFrom the AGI Bookshelf: Dark Territory
The world of cybersecurity is a complicated maze of technology, politics, and policy, a constant competition among those who would harness all of them for good and/or ill. It is …
The New Head of Germany’s Foreign Intelligence Agency BND: A Noticeable Shift in Germany’s Internal Security Policy
Quite surprisingly, last Wednesday the German Chancellery confirmed the removal of Gerhard Schindler as president of the German Foreign Intelligence Agency (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND). Schindler will be officially replaced by Bruno …
Privacy Shield for U.S. Data Transfers: Back to the Drawing Board
The European Commission may need to revise the draft proposal to meet the concerns expressed by the Article 29 Working Party. On 29 February 2016, the European Commission published a …
Capability, Reciprocity, and Luck
With a mixture of capability, reciprocity, and pure luck, Germany has so far avoided a Jihadi terrorist attack (with the exception of a “lone wolf” killing of two American soldiers …
EU/U.S. Data Transfers: New Privacy Shield – How Does It Look and What Happens Next?
The EU is acting at breakneck speed to fill the legal gap that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) created in October, invalidating the Safe Harbor Agreement for EU/U.S. data …
Coping with Crises: Refugees, Russia, and Responsibilities
The mass assaults against women that occurred in Cologne and elsewhere on New Year’s Eve have reverberated all over Germany and indeed well beyond. The fact that most of the …
New German Cybersecurity (BSI) Act:Ready for the Next Cyber War?
As do many other countries, Germany struggles to find the right balance between privacy and cybersecurity. It is a balancing act on many fronts. The German government has suggested a …
New EU Commission
“Your objective is to make Europe a world leader in information and communication technology, with all the tools to succeed in the global digital economy and society. […] To do …
Germany’s Unwanted Man
Twice burned by American intelligence, Germany’s pride is wounded and its officials seethe with frustration. This is the state of German-American relations after the monitoring of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s calls …
