In Operation Eikonal German BND agents received " selector lists " from the NSA – search terms for their dragnet surveillance . They contain IP addresses , mobile phone numbers and email accounts with the BND surveillance system containing hundreds of thousands and possibly more than a million such targets . These lists have been subject of controversy as in 2008 it was revealed that they contained some terms targeting the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company ( EADS ) , the Eurocopter project as well as French administration , which were first noticed by BND employees in 2005 . After the revelations made by whistleblower Edward Snowden the BND decided to investigate the issue whose October 2013 conclusion was that at least 2,000 of these selectors were aimed at Western European or even German interests which has been a violation of the Memorandum of Agreement that the US and Germany signed in 2002 in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks . After reports emerged in 2014 that EADS and Eurocopter had been surveillance targets the Left Party and the Greens filed an official request to obtain evidence of the violations
9/11 terror attacks
September 11 attacks
Industrial espionage