Monday, November 8th, 2021
The Chancellor’s SMS
What will happen to Merkel’s cell phone?
From Philipp Sandmann
The Chancellor’s mobile phone contains fairly sensitive data. However, the question of what actually happens to the device and the content after the end of their term of office has not been clarified.
In political Berlin it is an open secret that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone was and is an integral part of her government affairs. To put it in a somewhat exaggerated way, one could say: The Chancellor has also ruled via SMS for the past few years.
This is not so unusual these days. But it also harbors dangers, precisely because Merkel communicates with an unencrypted smartphone. And in 2013 it even came out that the US secret service NSA had spied on the Chancellor’s cell phone.
Angela Merkel’s term of office is now ending. In a few weeks she will no longer be Federal Chancellor, but an (almost) normal citizen. But what will happen to your cell phone then? After all, the device contains text messages, e-mails and correspondence from heads of government, some of which contain sensitive content. Can the Chancellor simply take such treasures home with her?
Directive from 2001
The Federal Chancellery gave a somewhat vague answer to this important question in nice official German. A spokesman told ntv that information in the Chancellery “if it is relevant to the content processing of an administrative process” would be “processed in a suitable form in accordance with the registry guideline”. This takes place regardless of “whether the Chancellor is on the phone, speaks to someone in person or communicates via SMS”.
But what exactly does that mean? On the website of the Federal Ministry of the Interior there is at least an explanation for the “Registry Policy”. To put it briefly: This is a guideline for all federal ministries for the processing of digital processes – by the way, according to the BMI, the guideline has not been updated since July 11, 2001.
But the real problem: this “registry guideline” obviously does not work with politicians’ cell phones. Past cases such as those of Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) or the former Federal Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) show this. Both the toll investigation committee and the investigation committee into the so-called consultant affair had all of a sudden irretrievably deleted important cell phone data of the minister and the minister.
“Certain fogging strategy”
The Green politician and digital expert Konstantin von Notz assesses the answer from the Federal Chancellery as follows: “I think you can see a certain obfuscation strategy in this answer and the fact that there is no clear regulation.” This is a problem that the (still) opposition has long pointed out.
Above all, however, it is problematic that private and professional life can almost no longer be separated. That is why von Notz says: “Members of the government will not be able to avoid having two cell phones. One for private communication and one for official communication. That can also be clearly regulated legally.”
In addition, transparent and clear processes are required for relevant decisions for the country: “That is only possible if such things are recorded, written down, saved.” In any case, Germany has “manifest and blatant problems in the area of IT security,” says the Green politician.
With a view to Merkel’s cell phone, von Notz therefore demands: “The relevant data that is not of a private nature must remain here, must remain accessible, must be processed and that cannot be done at will.”