Ex-Stasi Spy Boss: NSA's Reported Spy Program 'Would Have Been A Dream Come True'

Protestors greeted President Obama when he visited in June. They are upset over the NSA spying. Claudia Himmelreich/McClatchy

Ex-Stasi Boss Green With Envy Over NSA's Domestic Spy Powers -- CNet

For Wolfgang Schmidt, who used to head East Germany's feared spy service, the NSA's reported spy program "would have been a dream come true."

For Wolfgang Schmidt, it was just bad luck that he was 20 years too late and living on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain.

The former head of the Stasi, which was East Germany's secret police force, betrayed a fair bit of envy about the powers enjoyed by his former Cold War nemesis in the aftermath of revelations about the extent of the National Security Agency's surveillance powers.

"You know, for us, this would have been a dream come true," he said in a wide-ranging interview with McClatchy.

Read more ....

Update #1: Former Stasi Officer: The NSA Domestic Surveillance Program Would Have Been 'A Dream Come True' For East Germany -- Business Insider
Update #2: NSA’s Surveillance Operations the Envy of Former Stasi Commander -- Reason
Update #3: Memories of Stasi color Germans’ view of U.S. surveillance programs -- McClatchy News

My Comment: I do not remember the link .... but a week ago I read a similar Russian post on former KGB officers who were voicing the same sentiment. I ahve to shake my head .... when former communist spy-masters are voicing a wish of having the same tools that the NSA/intelligence community is using .... that is when you know that we have a problem.