The planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany raises U.S. intelligence and military concerns since it would allow Moscow to place new listening and monitoring technology in the Baltic Sea, a U.S. official said on Thursday. Sandra Oudkirk, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Diplomacy, told reporters in Berlin that Washington viewed the pipeline project as a bad choice, adding the U.S. was skeptical whether Russian transit guarantees for other countries such as Ukraine were enforceable. A consortium of western companies and Russia’s Gazprom that is due to build the controversial subsea Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany said on Tuesday it was starting preparatory work in the Greifswald bay off Germany’s Baltic coast. Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Writing by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Madeline Chambers