JEFF CARNEY – US AIRMAN TURNED STASI SPY

The young NSA intelligence specialist Jeffrey Carney, who is stationed in West Berlin, suddenly becomes the Eastern Bloc's most important agent. An unprecedented story of betrayal set against the Cold War.

In April 1991, an East Berlin man was kidnapped by US secret service agents. After being interrogated, "Jens Karney" was flown to the USA and sentenced to 38 years imprisonment... Almost exactly 30 years before Edward Snowden turned his back on the NSA, fellow countryman, then Jeffrey Carney, did the same. From 1983, the NSA intelligence specialist passed on top NSA secrets to the East German Stasi, becoming one of the Eastern Bloc's key agents. His code-name: "Kid". Shortly after his transferral to the USA, Carney fled to Mexico, was taken to Cuba and then to East Berlin. There he became known as East German Jens Karney, and he continued to work for the Stasi. After the fall of the Berlin wall, the defector's second secret service career came to an abrupt end, and he was eventually betrayed himself. Former Stasi officers sold their insider knowledge to the Americans, who had him arrested in Berlin. This film describes the motifs, turning points and genesis of an unprecedented agent story. Jens Karney – as he still calls himself – relives his past and describes his escape to East Germany, his abduction and conviction. Why were the Americans so intent on taking their betrayers to court? A special chapter in the history of the secret services.