Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz
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Verfassungsschutz is the short name for Germany's federal and state-based domestic intelligence agency (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz). Due to the federal structure of Germany, they consist of the generally independent services of the individual states (Landesämter für Verfassungsschutz, "State Departments of Constitutional Protection") and the parent organization, the federal Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV, "Federal Department of Constitutional Protection").
Coordination between the different services and the parallelism of the 16 state-based services is an ongoing problem. A merger into a single federal service has been topic of discussion, but the proposal faces strong political resistance due to the highly regarded principles of federalism.
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[edit] Presidents
- 1950 - 1954 Otto John
- 1955 - 1972 Hubert Schrübbers
- 1972 - 1975 Günther Nollau
- 1975 - 1982 Richard Meier
- 1983 - 1985 Heribert Hellenbroich
- 1985 - 1987 Ludwig-Holger Pfahls he disappeared in July 1999; in 2004 he was arrested in Paris in connection with charges that he was party to bribery in connection with an arms deal conducted while he was Deputy Secretary of Defense under Helmut Kohl in the 1990s.
- 1987 - 1991 Gerhard Boeden
- 1991 - 1995 Eckart Werthebach
- 1995 - 1997 Hansjörg Geiger
- 1997 - 2000 Peter Frisch
- since 2000 Heinz Fromm
[edit] Duties and responsibilities
The main job of the Verfassungsschutz is to observe organizations that are considered a threat to the "free and democratic basic order" (Freiheitlich-demokratische Grundordnung) of the Federal Republic of Germany. While they do use all kinds of surveillance technology and infiltration, most of their information is assembled from publications of the observed organizations. The information is compiled into yearly reports (Verfassungsschutzbericht) which are made available to the public; presumably there are more detailed, non-public reports given to the governments. The Verfassungsschutz has no enforcement authority or capability - when it gains information about crimes being committed or planned, it must rely on police or prosecutors to deal with the alleged perpetrators.
The organizations being currently observed by the Verfassungsschutz fall into the following groups:
- Right-wing political extremists (mainly Neo-Nazis, including the NPD and DVU political parties)
- Left-wing political movements, platforms, activists and parties like attac, Indymedia, the berlin "Sozialforum" and the left-wing parties dieLinke.PDS or the WASG
- Extremist organizations of foreigners living in Germany (most prominently Islamist terrorists)
- Scientology (considered by the German government an authoritarian, anti-democratic commercial organization rather than a religion)
Some of the Verfassungsschutz organizations have been given additional jobs by specific laws, such as the protection of government-related classified information, the monitoring of foreign secret services, or the monitoring of organized crime.
