Militärischer Abschirmdienst
Encyclopedia
The Militärischer Abschirmdienst (Military Counterintelligence Service, MAD) or more officially Amt für den Militärischen Abschirmdienst (in the past Amt für die Sicherheit der Bundeswehr), is one of the three federal intelligence agencies in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, responsible for military counterintelligence. Its headquarter is in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

, with 12 groups located in cities throughout Germany. Those MAD groups are collectively known to be the Militärischer Abschirmdienst.
The agency has about 1,300 military and civilian employees; in 1995 it had an annual budget of 74 million euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

s.

Being one of the three federal intelligence agencies in Germany, the others being the Bundesnachrichtendienst
Bundesnachrichtendienst
The Bundesnachrichtendienst [ˌbʊndəsˈnaːχʁɪçtnˌdiːnst] is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinated to the Chancellor's Office. Its headquarters are in Pullach near Munich, and Berlin . The BND has 300 locations in Germany and foreign countries...

 (Federal Intelligence Service, BND)
, which is the foreign intelligence agency, and the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, BfV) which is the domestic, civilian intelligence agency.

Duties

The MAD is part of the Bundeswehr
Bundeswehr
The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...

, the German armed forces. As a domestic intelligence service, it has similar functions, within the military, and works closely together with the Bundesamt für 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 MAD has no prosecution power.
The lead agency for the German military intelligence operations as well as strategic defense-related intelligence is the ministry of defense in Berlin.

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

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 12 regional offices are in:
  • Amberg
    Amberg
    Amberg is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the Upper Palatinate, roughly halfway between Regensburg and Bayreuth. Population: 44,756 .- History :...

  • Hannover
  • Hilden
    Hilden
    Hilden is a city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is situated in the District of Mettmann, west of Solingen and east of Düsseldorf on the right side of the Rhine. It is a middle sized industrial town with a forest and numerous attractions....

  • Kiel
    Kiel
    Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

  • Koblenz
    Koblenz
    Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...

  • Leipzig
    Leipzig
    Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

  • Mainz
    Mainz
    Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

  • Munich
    Munich
    Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

  • Rostock
    Rostock
    Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...

  • Schwielowsee
  • Stuttgart
    Stuttgart
    Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

  • Wilhelmshaven
    Wilhelmshaven
    Wilhelmshaven is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea.-History:...


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, its headquarters was called "Amt für Sicherheit der Bundeswehr" (ASBw, Federal armed forces office of security). As of September 1984, on the basis of the Höcherl
Hermann Höcherl
Hermann Höcherl was a Nazi politician, volunteer Wehrmacht soldier and after the war German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria ....

 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.

Scandals

The MAD has been involved in a number of scandals, one of them was the secret surveillance of the home of the secretary of then foreign minister Georg Leber. This was done without Mr. Lebers knowledge. His secretary was suspected of espionage for the East German "Ministerium für Staatssicherheit" (MfS) (Ministry of States Security). The suspicions turned out to be false. Leber was informed of the illegal surveillance at the beginning of 1978 but did not inform (Bundestag/Parliament) until the magazine Quick published an article 1978-01-26. Georg Leber retired his position on Feb 16 1978 therefore taking sole responsibility for the surveillance scandal. He resigned against the wishes of then chancellor Helmut Schmidt.

Another scandal was the Kießling Affair in 1983, when the MAD investigated Günter Kießling
Günter Kießling
Günter Kießling was a German general in the Bundeswehr, who became famous as the subject of what became known as the Kießling Affair....

, a Bundeswehr general working with NATO. The 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
Manfred Wörner
Manfred Hermann Wörner was a German politician and diplomat. He served as the defense minister of West Germany between 1982 and 1988. He then served as the seventh Secretary General of NATO from 1988 to 1994. His term as Secretary General saw the end of the Cold War and the German reunification...

. 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
Hermann Höcherl
Hermann Höcherl was a Nazi politician, volunteer Wehrmacht soldier and after the war German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria ....

 (CSU
Christian Social Union of Bavaria
The Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany...

). The Höcherl Commission investigated the way in which the MAD operated and made recommendations for improvement. These recommendations were implemented speedily.

External links

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