Merkel fires BND spy chief. Gerhard Schindler is out.

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President of the German Federal Intelligence Agency (BND) Gerhard Schindler gestures during a visit of the Reuters office in Berlin, March 5, 2014.
Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch/File Photo/Files
Germany confirms departure of spy agency chief
World  | Wed Apr 27, 2016 3:03pm IST Related: World
http://in.reuters.com/article/germany-intelligence-idINKCN0XO0WP

  "The German government confirmed on Wednesday that Gerhard Schindler,
   the head of the BND foreign intelligence agency, would leave his post
   two years early but provided no reason for the surprise change.
   
   In a short statement, Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff Peter
   Altmaier said Schindler, who has run the BND since 2012 and is not due
   to retire until 2018, would be replaced on July 1 by Bruno Kahl, an
   official in the finance ministry responsible for privatisations and
   government real estate.
   
   "The BND faces major challenges over the coming years, encompassing all
   aspects of its work," Altmaier said.
   
   "These include the evolution of its mission in light of shifting
   security challenges, the upgrading of the agency on the technical and
   personnel front, organisational and legal consequences arising from the
   parliamentary investigation into the NSA and the move of large parts of
   the BND from Pullach to Berlin," he added.
   
   The move comes a year after damaging revelations that the BND had
   helped the U.S. National Security Agency spy on European allies.
   
   Attacks by Islamist militants in Brussels last month and in Paris in
   November exposed flaws in how European intelligence agencies cooperate
   with each other.
   
   Germany has not suffered such an attack on its soil, but is seen as a
   prime target for the militant group Islamic State, which threatened
   last month to launch attacks at Cologne-Bonn airport and the
   chancellery building in Berlin.   
   
   (Reporting by Noah Barkin) "