柏林——德国前情报机构负责人奥古斯特·汉宁曾将他领导的机构形容为情报界“吃素的”，身处更强大、更不受规则束缚且具有攻击性的同行包围之中。
BERLIN—August Hanning, the former head of Germany’s foreign spy service, once described the agency he ran as “the vegetarian of intelligence services” surrounded by more powerful, less rule-bound and carnivorous peers.
本周，汉宁因涉嫌间谍罪和叛国未遂被捕，这恐将进一步削弱联邦情报局（BND）的实力——而此前该局正处于最终获得西方其他国家同行所拥有的一些间谍技能的关键时刻。
Hanning’s arrest on suspicion of espionage and attempted treason this week is threatening to further defang the Federal Intelligence Service, or BND—just as it was on the cusp of finally gaining some of the spycraft capabilities deployed by its counterparts elsewhere in the West.
今年夏天，柏林指责莫斯科派遣武装无人机飞越莱比锡机场，并希望扩大联邦情报局的权力以应对来自俄罗斯及其他地区的威胁。此次事件的时机对柏林来说堪称灾难。西方安全官员表示，这起未遂袭击是莫斯科对欧洲日益公开的广泛暗战的一部分。
The timing of the affair is disastrous for Berlin, which wants to expand the BND’s powers to counter threats from Russia and elsewhere after accusing Moscow of flying an armed drone into the Leipzig airport this summer. Western security officials say the failed attack is part of a wider shadow war Moscow is increasingly waging in the open against Europe.
保守派议员、议会情报监督委员会前成员罗德里希·基瑟维特表示：“在情报界，事情不会比这更糟糕了。这些机构需要赢得选民和合作伙伴的信任……现在必须作为当务之急恢复这种信任。”
“In the world of intelligence, this is as bad as things get,” said Roderich Kiesewetter, a conservative lawmaker and former member of Parliament’s intelligence oversight committee. “The services need to be trusted by voters and by partners…that must now be restored as a matter of urgency.”