German suspect was in contact with State Dept not US spies

A German defense official under investigation for alleged spying was in contact with a US State Department officer rather than American intelligence agencies, raising questions about whether any espionage occurred, US officials familiar with the case said on Friday. The officials, who are knowledgeable about the details of the case, said the US government believes the relationship between the German defense official and his State Department contact was a friendship. If that is borne out by the on-going German investigation, it could help cool a crisis in US-German security cooperation that has seen two Germans probed for spying for Washington and Germany's expulsion of the top US intelligence official in Berlin. At the least, the investigation involving the German defense official appears murkier than the other, separate incident, which came earlier. In that case, an employee of Germany's foreign intelligence agency, known as the BND, was arrested on suspicion of spying for the CIA and possibly Russia. The two cases, which followed revelations last year of US Electronic eavesdropping on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, have chilled security ties between the two countries. The administration of President Barack Obama hopes the German investigation will prove unproductive and will be closed without any arrest, two officials said. However, Germany's probe is continuing, according to AFP.