German Chancellor Angela Merkel stands during a wreath-laying ceremony at the 'Neue Wache' anti-war memorial in Berlin November 19, 2006. Merkel was concerned about a group of visitors to her chancellery who refused to say who they were -- until an adviser told her they were intelligence agents.. Photo Credit: REUTERS/Hannibal HanschkeBERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel was concerned about a group of visitors to her chancellery who refused to say who they were -- until an adviser told her they were intelligence agents.
Merkel encountered the group touring her office building recently. She walked over to them and asked in German: "Where are you from?" Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported on Sunday.
No one answered her friendly query so she asked again in English. Surprised by their silence, she was about to try a third time in Russian when a member of her staff solved the riddle by explaining to her they were from Germany's Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) spy agency.