American espionage in Germany: Difference between revisions

According to estimates from 2010, around 120 CIA agents were working in Germany, often disguised as diplomats. They were mainly active in the [[Embassy of the United States, Berlin|American embassy]] in [[Berlin]] and the consulates in [[Munich]] and [[Frankfurt]]. For a long time, the CIA headquarters in Frankfurt was located in the [[IG Farben Building|I.G. Farben building]], which was occupied by the US in World War II.<ref>{{cite web |access-date=2024-07-05 |author=Hans Leyendecker |date=2010-05-17 |language=de |title=Undercover in der Bundesrepublik |url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/us-geheimdienst-cia-undercover-in-der-bundesrepublik-1.157473 |website=Süddeutsche Zeitung}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> According to revelations by [[WikiLeaks]] in 2017, there is a secret hacker unit called [[Vault 7]] in the [[Consulate General of the United States, Frankfurt|US consulate in Frankfurt]], which is responsible for [[Europe]], the [[Near East|Middle East]] and [[Africa]]. [[Wiesbaden]] is home to the [[United States Army|US Army]]'s [[Consolidated Intelligence Center]], which was built in 2015 and is alsosaid to also be used by the NSA. The espionage center is located near the traffic-intensive [[DE-CIX]] internet hub.<ref>{{cite web |access-date=2024-07-05 |date=2013-07-20 |title=Wiesbadener Kurier - Wiesbaden: Weiter Unklarheit über NSA-Abhörzentr… |url=https://archive.ph/xLZex}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> The US bases in the country are [[Extraterritoriality|extraterritorial]] and are therefore subject to [[US law]].<ref>{{cite web |access-date=2024-07-09 |author=Gert L. Polli |language=de-DE |title=US-Spionage auf deutschem Boden ist vollkommen legal |url=https://deutsche-wirtschafts-nachrichten.de/219976}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>

[[Operation Paperclip|Operation Overcast]] was a secret US intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers and technicians were brought from Germany to the US between 1945 and 1959 to work for the American government after the end of the War. The operation was carried out by the [[Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency]] (JIOA), which was largely run by special agents from the US Army's [[Counterintelligence Corps]] (CIC). The scientists had often been involved in the Nazi rocket program, the air force and German chemical and biological warfare. In some cases, thethey had been involved in serious [[war crime]]s. Among the scientists recruited was [[Wernher von Braun]], who later headed the [[American space program]]. German patents were also confiscated by the Americans.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=Annie |url=https://books.google.de/books?id=Rs1CCgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y |title=Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America |date=2014-02-11 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-0-316-22105-4 |language=en}}</ref>

Once political parties were allowed again, they were monitored and infiltrated by US intelligence. The newly re-established [[Communist Party of Germany|KPD]] was particularly closely monitored. From 1948 on, [[Willy Brandt]], who supplied the CIC with information from divided Berlin, became the most important [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|SPD]] informant for the Americans. The US tried to favor the SPD in order to prevent a Communist takeover. Brandt was recruited as an agent in 1950 and, as an "informant 'O-35-VIII'" together with fellor SPD man [[Hans Emil Hirschfeld|Hans E. Hirschfeld]], received 200,000 [[Deutsche Mark|German marks]] in political support from the Americans, who helped his career. His work as an informant ended in 1952, but he remained in contact with US intelligence circles afterwards.<ref>Boghardt p. 376–380</ref>

The divided German capital Berlin became a center of espionage as early as the 1940s. Here, the Americans were closest to the emerging Eastern Bloc and the Soviet armed forces and all intelligence services recruited among the population of Berlin. In cooperation with the British, the CIA pulled off an intelligence coup in 1955 with [[Operation Gold]], when they built a 400-meter-long spy tunnel between the American and Soviet sectors, with which Soviet telephone lines could be tapped and intercepted. However, the Soviets had already been well-informed about the tunnel in advance thanks to aSoviet molespies in the British [[MI5]], and they blew the whistle on the operation a year later without jeopardizing their source.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wiegrefe |first=Klaus |date=1997-09-21 |title=»Operation Gold« |url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/operation-gold-a-56a3587e-0002-0001-0000-000008781387 |access-date=2024-07-13 |work=Der Spiegel |language=de |issn=2195-1349}}</ref>

West Germany was of great importance as a base for US intelligence activities. Along with [[Turkey]] and the [[United Kingdom]], Germany was one of the three countries that allowed a large number and variety of different intelligence stations and bases on its territory, while other European countries restricted them. Numerous [[Signals intelligence|SIGINT listening posts]], [[Radar station|radar surveillance]] stations and CIA bases were established in Germany, which played an important role in the Cold War for the Americans. The CIA's German Station was the largest CIA unit overseas. In 1959, it comprisedhad between 1,400 and 1,700 operational and support personnel. The CIA German headquarters, which occupied parts of a huge former [[IG Farben]] building in Frankfurt, controlled a dozen operational bases scattered throughout West Germany, the largest of which was the 200-person [[Berlin Operations Base]] (BOB), whose code name was the ''U.S. Army Field Systems Office''. The BOB was located in a three-story building in Berlin's [[Dahlem (Berlin)|Dahlem]] district, which had been the headquarters of the [[Luftwaffe|German Air Force]] during World War II. The CIA also controlled numerous smaller weapons depots, spy stations, training camps, ammunition depots and secret hiding places throughout West Germany.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |access-date=2024-07-05 |author=Matthew M. Aid |language=en |title=The Declassified History of American Intelligence Operations in Europe: 1945-2001 |url=https://brill.com/fileasset/downloads_products/36813_USEO_Background_Article.pdf}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>