FB event to walk to NSA's Dagger Complex results in a visit by the German police

Well...at least the German authorities were civilized about it.

Not so sure our authorities (in the US) would have the same reaction.

What I don't understand is why the Germans allow the US to setup a base that spies on them. According to the Spiegel the base was setup without local approval. Also also locals have been concerned for a long time because of possible radiation from the large antennas but for what ever reason the local government cant even inquire about it.

Imagine a German military base in the middle of the US that has who knows what kind of equipment on it and the local town can't question it.

The current German citizenry don't dictate the ongoing activities of the German government, and after WWII they had no choice, so their permission isn't necessary.

The Cold War-era West German clandestine/covert operations was run almost entirely by Western powers, particularly the US. The relationships between the German intelligence community (BND) and the American intelligence community (NSA/CIA) is still very tight, so that explains the nature of their relationship.

Many still harbor feelings that the Cold War may have ended, but the need (for the intelligence infrastructure surrounding it) never went away.

> What I don't understand is why the Germans allow the US to setup a base that spies on them

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmstadt see "United States Military presence". It sounds like it started out as part of the post-WW2 occupation.

"Imagine a German military base in the middle of the US that has who knows what kind of equipment on it and the local town can't question it."

Sometimes, when I imagine what I would do if I won the Lottery and had a few millions I could just fritter away, I think it would be highly entertaining to buy a lot outside of Washington DC or perhaps in New Jersey and construct upon it a building, surrounded by razor wire and maybe trenches, and then come up with ever more fanciful antenna looking designs to install on the roof. Sort of an artists enclave where the artists could visualize different shapes that might pull un-imagined signals out of the air.

And never let anyone "official" inside the building.

Clearly you'd need a few million for the building and a few tens of millions for the law firm that would spend its days keeping the curious out.

Its a variation on the old puzzle box psychologists trick where you keep an obvious unopened box in the room and refuse to talk about the contents. It really does drive people nuts.