Militärischer Abschirmdienst

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The Militärische Abschirmdienst (MAD), full name Amt für den Militärischen Abschirmdienst (official English name: "Federal Armed Forces Counterintelligence Office") is the German military intelligence service.

It has about 1,300 military and civilian employees. Its headquarters are in the Konrad Adenauer Barracks in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia and there are 14 regional offices throughout Germany. In 1995 it had an annual budget of 74 million euros.

It is one of the three federal intelligence agencies in Germany, the others being the Bundesnachrichtendienst, which is the foreign intelligence agency, and the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, which is the domestic, civilian intelligence agency.

1 Duties
2 Organization
3 History
4 Scandals
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Duties

The MAD is part of the Bundeswehr. As a domestic intelligence service, it has similar functions, within the military, as the civilian intelligence services (Verfassungsschutz).

The main duties of the MAD are counterintelligence and detection of "anticonstitutional activities" within the Bundeswehr. Other duties include the protection of Bundeswehr properties from sabotage and foreign espionage. Members of the MAD are also involved in planning and construction of buildings with high security requirements.

The legal basis for the MAD is the MAD Law of 1990-12-20^[1], as amended by Article 8 of the law of 2005-04-22 ^[2]

[edit] Organization

As well as a department for administrative affairs, there are the following specialist departments:

Department I: Central services
Department II: Counter-extremism
Department III: Counterespionage
Department IV: Protection of secrets (personnel and material)
Department V: Technology

The 14 regional offices are in:

[edit] History

The MAD developed out of a liaison office between the Allies and the German government and was founded in its present form in 1956, after the Bundeswehr was created. Until 1984, it was called "Amt für Sicherheit der Bundeswehr" (ASBw). Im September 1984, on the basis of the Höcherl report, the service was restructured and more civilian positions were created.

After the former East German army, the National People's Army (NVA ) was incorporated into the Bundeswehr 1990-10-03, the MAD had 7 groups and 28 regional offices. This was reduced to 14 offices in 1994 when there was a reduction of armed forces.

[edit] Scandals

The MAD has been involved in a number of scandals, such as when they allegedly bugged the home of the secretary of the then foreign minister, Georg Leber, because she was suspected of espionage for the East German Stasi . The suspicions were never proven. Leber was informed of the illegal bugging at the beginning of 1978 but did not inform Parliament until the magazine Quick published an article about it 1978-01-26. The minister resigned 1978-02-02.

Another scandal was the Kießling Affair in 1983, when the MAD investigated Günter Kießling, a Bundeswehr general working with NATO. On the basis of allegations of homosexuality originating from questionable sources, the general was deemed to be a security risk and given early retirement by the then defence minister, Manfred Wörner. The general was later rehabilitated. The affair had significant consequences for the service: the commander was removed, and a commission was set up under the former minister of the interior Hermann Höcherl (CSU). The Höcherl Commission investigated the way in which the MAD worked and made recommendations for improvement. These recommendations were implemented speedily.