The barbecue that exposed Germany’s spy problem

After decades of restraint, Berlin wants its intelligence service to recruit spies, sabotage enemies and take risks again.

Dear Reader,

A few months before Russia invaded Ukraine, a barbecue was taking place on the grounds of a local football club in the small Bavarian town of Weilheim.

Among the guests was Carsten L., a man in his fifties who coached one of the club’s youth teams. To the other coaches he was simply a soldier whose regular absences from the quiet commuter tow…