This isn't remotely true, for instance: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/oh-by-the-way-germany-spi_b_4184047 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/oh-by-the-way-germany-

This isn't remotely true, for instance: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/oh-by-the-way-germany-spi_b_4184047 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/oh-by-the-way-germany-spi_b_4... I also vaguely remember a 60 Minutes piece in the late 80s or early 90s about West Germans fulfilling their mandatory military service obligations by coming to the US and committing industrial espionage. Well before the US got caught, it was well known that the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have a mutual non-spying pact... and Germany knew it wasn't in on such a pact. It's well known that in the absence of non-spying agreements, spying is considered fair game. After Germany caught the US spying, did Germany demand its own mutual non-spying pact with the US? I'm not aware of any such public demands, but maybe I just missed them. If no demands were made, then presumably Germany was less shocked and less hurt than it let on. It probably turns out that, like most allies around the world, the US and Germany generally trust each other, but not to such a high degree that they're willing to give up the ability to check on each other now and then.