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Federal Intelligence Service

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File:BND 01.jpg
Logo of Germany's Bundesrichtendienst (BND) / Federal Intelligence Service

The Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service, BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of the German government, under the control of the Bundeskanzleramt (Federal Chancellery). Its headquarters are in Pullach near Munich, and Berlin (it is to be centralised in Berlin by 2011). The BND has 200 locations in Germany and foreign Countries. In 2005 the BND employs around 6,050 people, 10 % of there are Bundeswehrsoldiers, they become to employe official to the "Amt für Militärkunde" what is just a camouflage. The budget per year of the BND are over EUR 430,000,000.

The domestic secret service counterpart of the BND is the Verfassungsschutz; there is also a separate military intelligence organisation (the Militärischer Abschirmdienst).

History

The BND was created on 1 April 1956, out of the Gehlen Org, set up by US occupying forces in 1946, under the leadership of Reinhard Gehlen. The Gehlen Org was created out of the remnants of the previous Nazi intelligence network, and as late as 1970, 25-30% of BND employees were former SS, SD or Gestapo officers. Gehlen remained President of the BND until 1968.

During the Cold War, as many as 90% of the BND's informants in East Germany were double agents run by the Stasi.[1]

In 2005 a public scandal erupted (dubbed the Journalistenskandal, Journalists scandal) over revelations that the BND had in the mid 1990s put under surveillance a number of German journalists, in an attempt to discover the source of information leaks from the BND.

The most recent scandal involves agents of the BND having allegedly supplied targeting information to U.S. forces during the Iraq War 2003.

Structure

The Bundesnachrichtendienst is divided into 8 branches, with different operational intelligence tasks.

  1. Operative Aufklärung / Human Intelligence
  2. Technische Aufklärung / Signals Intelligence
  3. Auswertung / Analysis
  4. Steuerung und zentrale Dienstleistung / Administration
  5. Organisierte Kriminalität & Internationaler Terrorismus / Organized Crime & International Terrorism
  6. Technische Unterstützung / Technical Support
  7. Schule des BND / BND School
  8. Sicherheit / Security & Defense

Presidents of the BND

The head of the Bundesnachrichtendienst is its President. The following persons have held this office since 1956:

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