page_title: 50th Munich Security Conference
section_title: NSA-Affair
hierarchical_section_title: 50th Munich Security Conference / NSA-Affair
caption_attribution_description: English: 50th Munich Security Conference 2014: Chuck Hagel: Chuck Hagel (Secretary of Defense, USA).
context_page_description: The 50th Munich Security Conference was held from 31 January to 2 February 2014. At the event, more than 400 international guests attended, including 20 Heads of State and Government, 50 foreign and defense ministers and 90 government delegations. Joachim Gauck was the first German Federal President to ever hold the opening speech.
context_section_description: No approaches were made towards the transatlantic conflict over NSA surveillance in Europe. The US Secretaries John Kerry and Chuck Hagel avoided any mention of this controversial subject. Instead Kerry advocated a "transatlantic renaissance" based on common values. Hagel emphasized the role of Europe as an "indispensable partner" of the United States. Both ministers campaigned for the transatlantic free trade agreement TTIP. US Senator John McCain added in relation to the NSA spying on allies as a 'credibility problem', which the American government had to deal with in order to regain lost trust. Significant criticism of the NSA spying was voiced by German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière. Throughout the discussion he called the carried out spying on German citizens "exorbitantly" and demanded a "signal from the Americans to their closest partner in Europe". De Maizière declared that the political damage caused by these surveillance measures was higher than their security benefits. The Federal Minister of the Interior called the information provided by the American side completely inadequate. A possible no-spy agreement with the United States provided the Minister with no great expectations. Along Kerry and Hagel, de Maizière agreed with a continuation of negotiations on TTIP. The German MEP Elmar Brok predicted a defeat in the vote on the TTIP agreement in the European Parliament in the event that an examination and reappraisal of the NSA's activities would fail. Company representatives from Deutsche Telekom, Huawei and Microsoft demanded a binding international standard of Internet security. Thus, Deutsche Telekom CEO Timothy Höttges called for an international agreement of digital basic rights. Microsoft Vice President Matt Thomlinson announced the opening of the company's own transparency centers, including one in Brussels, where governments could check the source code of Microsoft products to insure that they contain no backdoors for US intelligence agencies.
caption: US-Secretary of Defense Hagel speaking at 50th MSC
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