WRITTEN QUESTION E-1081/01 by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Council. Blurring of interests and distortion of competition with the Sensus project.
Date: 2001-04-09
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU police cooperation, EU programme, espionage, exchange of information, fraud against the EU, information technology, restriction on competition, secret service

C 340 E/160

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.12.2001

In pursuing its mission, the JRC will concentrate its activities on a limited number of key issues related to
the safety and security of
the European citizen where it has specific competence and can offer
a strengthened user-orientation. The JRC(cid:146)s budget proposed for the next framework programme for
support for Community policies is € 715 million and the budget for the Euratom activities is € 330
million.

(1) COM(2000) 366 final.

(2001/C 340 E/181)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1064/01

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(5 April 2001)

Subject: Coordination of the Sensus project

Coordination of the Sensus project is in the hands of a certain Stephan Bodenkamp. Officially he is
employed by the Amt f(cid:252)r Auslandsfragen in Munich. A ruling from a Munich court (20 December 2000)
shows that Bodenkamp(cid:146)s real name is Christoph Kionowski and that he is an agent of the German state
security service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst, although apparently he has now been suspended.

1.
Is the Council aware that coordination of the Sensus project is in the hands of Stephan Bodenkamp/
Christoph Kionowski, an agent of the German state security service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst? If so,
does the Council support this choice of coordinator of the Sensus project?

2. Will
the Council ask the Commission to relieve Stephan Bodenkamp/Christoph Kionowski of
coordination of the Sensus project since he is an agent of the Bundesnachrichtendienst? If not, why does
the Council continue to support the Commission(cid:146)s decision to entrust him with coordination of the
project?

3. Will
the Council ask the Commission to relieve Stephan Bodenkamp/Christoph Kionowski of
coordination of the Sensus project in view of his sentencing by a Munich court for forging a contract with
a German technology firm in the context of the Sensus project? If not, why does the Council support the
Commission(cid:146)s decision to nevertheless entrust him with coordination of the project?

4. Will
the Council ask the Commission to relieve Stephan Bodenkamp/Christoph Kionowski of
coordination of the Sensus project in view of his suspension by the Bundesnachrichtendienst? If not, why
does the Council continue to support
the Commission(cid:146)s decision to nevertheless entrust him with
coordination of the project?

(2001/C 340 E/182)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1081/01

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(9 April 2001)

Subject: Blurring of interests and distortion of competition with the Sensus project

The Sensus project, the successor to Aventinus, seeks to develop an information exchange programme for
the European police and intelligence services. The search for interesting language technology is an
important part of
this project. Sensus is subsidised by the Commission. The reply to Question
P-0009/01 (1) shows that Sensus and Aventinus I and II have been financed from budget line B6-6121 113
of the telematics applications programme (1994-1998). A maximum contribution of € 2 500 000 was
approved for Aventinus I, and of this € 2 341 190 was applied for and paid. A maximum contribution
of € 550 000 was approved for Aventinus II, of which his € 513 777 was applied for and paid. A
maximum contribution of € 2 250 000 was approved for Sensus, of which € 478 753 was paid on
31 December 2000.

4.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 340 E/161

Coordination of Sensus is in the hands of Stephan Bodenkamp/Christoph Kionowski, a secret agent of the
Bundesnachrichtendienst. He is also behind three language Development Companies of Lernout & Haspie
(L & H). Thanks to his dual role,
the Bundesnachrichtendienst can have access to L & H(cid:146)s language
technology. It is immediately apparent that the Sensus-Bundesnachrichtendienst-L & H set-up results in (a)
a dubious blurring of interests between the private and the (cid:145)public sector(cid:146), (b) an imbalance in the language
technology know-how of the various police and security services and (c) unfair competition between those
language technology firms which are involved in Sensus and those which are not.

1.
Does the Council acknowledge that the dual role of the Sensus coordinator leads to a blurring of
interests between the public and the (cid:145)private(cid:146) sector (in this case the Bundesnachrichtendienst)? If not, what
guarantees does the Council have that the set-up referred to above has not resulted in this blurring?

2.
Does the Council acknowledge that the dual role of the Sensus coordinator has led to an imbalance
in the language technology know-how of the various police and security services, in particular in favour of
the Bundesnachrichtendienst? If not, what guarantees does the Council have that the set-up referred to
above has not resulted in this imbalance?

Does the Council acknowledge that the dual role of the Sensus coordinator has led to unfair
3.
competition between those language technology firms which are involved in Sensus and those which are
not? If not, what guarantees does the Council have that the set-up referred to above has not resulted in
unfair competition?

(1) OJ C 187 E, 3.7.2001, p. 154.

(2001/C 340 E/183)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1083/01

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(9 April 2001)

Subject: The Sensus project: the European equivalent of DARPA

The Sensus project, the successor to Aventinus, seeks to develop an information exchange programme for
European police and intelligence services by analogy with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA). Coordination of Sensus is in the hands of Stephan Bodenkamp/Christoph Kionowski, a secret
agent of
the Bundesnachrichtendienst. DARPA, a government body, coordinates the research and
development programmes of the American Department of Defense.

Two language technology laboratories appear to play a crucial role in DARPA and the Sensus project.
Dragon has developed translation technology for US intelligence services and it has cooperated in the
Multilingual Interview System (MIS). This system was intended for automatic translation of Croatian,
Serbian and Bosnian interviews in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Spring 1998) and of Arabic, Farsi, Hindi and Urdu
in the Persian Gulf (Summer 1998). Via its subsidiary Sail Labs, formerly Gesellschaft f(cid:252)r Multilingual
Systeme mbH, Lernout & Haspie (L & H) was closely involved in the European Sensus project. To complete
the picture it should be pointed out that L & H took party in DARPA(cid:146)s (cid:145)Dominate the Battlespace(cid:146) project in
1997.

Inspired by the MIS success of its rival Dragon, L & H has set up a number of so-called Language
Development Companies to develop language technology in Hindi, Farsi, Arabic and Urdu. Stephan
Bodenkamp/Christoph Kionowski, secret agent of the Bundesnachrichtendienst and coordinator of the
Sensus project, set up three Language Development Companies. In early 2000 L & H took over Dragon.
The US National Security Agency was strongly opposed to this take-over because of the strategic and
sensitive technology which came into the possession of the European group.

Is the Council aware of the National Security Agency(cid:146)s opposition to L & H(cid:146)s take-over of Dragon, given the
possible impact of the American attitude on the Sensus project, because of (a) the participation of L & H
subsidiary Sail Labs and (b) the shareholdings of Sensus coordinator Stephan Bodenkamp/Christoph