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

BERLIN

German spy agency BND can keep its findings about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic confidential, according to a court ruling announced on Tuesday.

“Disclosing information could have significant economic and political repercussions for relations with the People's Republic of China and thus for the foreign affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany,” the Federal Administrative Court stated in its ruling.

The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig rejected German newspaper Die Welt's request for information on the BND's report on COVID-19's origins, despite the newspaper citing its constitutional rights.

In March, several media outlets reported that the BND possessed intelligence on the pandemic's origins but had withheld it since 2020. According to these reports, BND's intelligence assessment concluded that COVID-19 was most likely accidentally leaked from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The Federal Administrative Court upheld the BND's position that revealing its findings could compromise the agency's intelligence operations.

“The BND has plausibly demonstrated that disclosures could impair its functionality and the interests of the Federal Republic of Germany,” the judges said. “Confirming or denying the alleged findings would enable conclusions about intelligence sources, capabilities, and working methods of the BND.”

The COVID-19 pandemic claimed millions of lives worldwide from 2020 to 2023 and brought devastating global impacts. The unprecedented health crisis overwhelmed health care systems and forced widespread lockdowns, disrupting daily life and causing severe economic disruption worldwide.