Protecting the constitution or protecting the government?

On the BfV intelligence agency's new report on the AfD

Dear Reader,

What evidence does Germany’s domestic intelligence agency have about the inner workings of the AfD that led to its decision to label the party as a “confirmed right-wing extremist” organisation?

The short answer: very little—at least publicly. If the agency does possess evidence that the AfD is secretly plotting the downfall of democracy, it isn’t sharing it.

The Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV) spent three years investigating the right-wing party and compiled its findings into a 1,000-page dossier.

The result? The AfD has now been upgraded from a “suspected” to a “verified” right-wing extremist party.

But, opaquely, the report remains classified. Apparently, the public is supposed to simply take the agency’s word for it. Still, the BfV seems no better at keeping secrets than the BND—Germany’s foreign intelligence service—is at gathering them: two national newspapers have already seen the full report and published excerpts.

Reading these leaked passages, it’s difficult to …