Who is the German Hans-Georg Maaßen, and why does he matter right now?
HGM was a German lawyer who rose up the ranks to eventually become the German in charge (the President) of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. In simple terms, he was the guy who was supposed in charge of domestic intelligence....always watching over threats to the general public, the Constitution, etc.
In 2012, he assumed the office and probably would have been there for a decade before retiring.
But then in 2018....demonstrations were held in Chemnitz, Germany and various political parties went at the right-wing type demonstrations.....saying that the national intelligence arm needed to go and probe various individuals. In their view, all options were filled-in and legally, it was correct to probe private German citizens.
HGM, after a couple of weeks, came back to say that no evidence existed to probe private German citizens. This was not a conspiracy type situation.
In simple terms.....sh** hit the fan. The various political figures of the Green Party, the SPD, and the Linke Party disagreed with this entirely. Even some individuals with the CDU took a lesser view of HGM and the way he said this.
If he'd said fine, and just picked two or three guys to probe? Well....it would have been accepted, and some fake charges drummed up, with a judge signing off on wire-taps and phone bugs. But he simply didn't find a case for probing people.
Around mid-September of 2018, the resolution came up via the Bundestag to fire HGM. Instead, the Minister of the Interior took another move.....moving HGM to another job. That would have probably saved all the problems with HGM.....except to meet the qualifications of the new job.....he had to be promoted up another step.
Yep.....that came out and set the opposition folks on 'fire'.
On 5 November 2018, the Ministry let HGM 'go'.....officially retired. Yes, he's paid some type of retirement deal from the government.
So what does a 56-year old former government guy with a intelligence background do? He talks a lot.....about migration, failed immigration policy, and asylum issues.
Here's the thing....HGM has laid out the problems with the political parties, their use of threatening 'populism' to advance their public position, the immigration woes left by Chancellor Merkel, the left-versus-right gaming going on, and the naive nature of the public in understanding the entire landscape.
He's a paying member of the CDU (Merkel's party) and recently....some of those folks think that he needs to part ways and leave the party. Why? Well....there's a suggestion or two that maybe a quarter to a third of the party membership believes heavily in HGM's commentary. It kinda slams the Merkel policy and accomplishments of the past decade.
At some point, Chancellor Merkel will exit (maybe sooner than fall of 2021's national election).....and some fair amount of discussion will occur over the direction in the future. HGM might have comments which resonate with a majority of CDU 'members' (the ones who pay to be a member), and there might be some influence left on HGM's part about populism, immigration, and things should be developed.
HGM is not a top ten character or even regarded as a top one-hundred person of influence with the German news media....but he might be part of the CDU's direction after Merkel leaves.
Footnote: So after HGM left his old job, and the new guy arrived.....did he authorize various Germans in the Chemnitz area to be secretly watched? Unknown. My guess is that he did pick a couple of folks....just to say he's doing something. In twenty years.....if private citizens were illegally 'watched'....will there be a compensation package and apology drafted? Yes, more then likely. In a way, it's comical the way that these episodes work, but there's always a woeful 'sorry' coming at the tail-end of a mess like this.
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