So looking at the history of (West) Germany post WW2 with the country entering NATO, significant US military presence and essentially being the border country to the Soviet block, I think it's reasonable that there is a veritable historical root for a significant US intelligence agency influence on the structure of Germany's intelligence service as well as lenient laws towards US intelligence services operating within Germany.

Not really surprising given the Cold War history in my book.

I also think it's credible that some of these close ties were kept way past "expiration", who likes to give up privileges, esp. as an intelligence service.

As a matter of fact though, looking at the long list of intelligence service scandals, there has been more and more light shed on these tricks by parliament and a free press since the 2010s [0].

Also, there was a law past in 2016 after the NSA revelations increasing control and limiting capabilities of the BND [1].

So while going back 30+ years I am inclined to go with your statement, I can't find objective evidence, hints, whatsoever, that this is still true.

With all that being said, as a German citizen, I'd much rather be allied with US intelligence services than Chinese or Russian ones.

Yes, it's a dragnet, yes it's a hassle to protect your privacy effectively, yes intelligence services are no lambs and always play by the books.

But let's not kid ourselves, both Germany and the US are pretty free countries for their citizens?

[0]: For example for a critical opinion of the NSA <> BND relationship, which is also being itself critized by other experts https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globale_%C3%9Cberwachungs-_und...

[1]: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesetz_zur_Ausland-Ausland-Fer...

And your source for this statement is which Telegram group?