“A healthy distrust is helpful, but being overly suspicious is a hindrance.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel (February 8 2019)
“The Bundesnachrichtendienst is the sole foreign intelligence service of the Federal Republic of Germany. As such it reports directly to the Federal Chancellery.
The mission of the Bundesnachrichtendienst is to provide the Federal Government with fast and comprehensive information. Since nothing goes out-of-date quite as fast as up-to-date information, the security policy parameters within which the Bundesnachrichtendienst operates are constantly changing. We live in a multipolar world. Globalization intensifies mutual dependencies worldwide.
Present-day crises and conflicts are often highly dynamic and require rapid action from policymakers. New conflict types and conflict scenarios dominate the international arena.”
Scope of Work — BND Official website (2017)
The Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service or the BND Headquarters is the headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) of Germany, and is located at the Chausseestraße in the Mitte district in the centre of Berlin. With 260,000 m² it is the world’s largest intelligence headquarters, somewhat bigger than the CIA headquarters at Langley, and Berlin’s second largest building, after Berlin Tempelhof Airport.
On Friday February 8 2019, Chancellor Angela Merkel inaugurated the new, fortress-like Berlin headquarters of the BND, Germany’s foreign intelligence service. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
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Located where the Berlin Wall once dissected the city, the huge 1.1-billion-euro ($1.25-billion) complex now houses 4,000 of the spy agency’s 6,500 staff.
Built on the former site of an East German sports stadium, it is one of the world’s largest secret service bases, covering 10 hectares (25 acres) — the equivalent to 36 football fields.
Former BND chief Gerhard Schindler complained that the agency’s technical surveillance had stayed behind at the old Bavarian base, saying there was “no rational, logical reason” for this.
UPDATE (February 8 2020) — The troubling photo below was tweeted with the following message:
“What was the architect thinking? Disturbing floor plan of Germany’s new secret service HQs.”
A (not working) link to a fake NY Times article was included.
The photo above — showing a swastika on each side of the building when viewed from above — is a fake as you may have guessed already.
As Pope Francis wrote in January 2018, “false but believable news is ‘captious’, inasmuch as it grasps people’s attention by appealing to stereotypes and common social prejudices and exploiting instantaneous emotions like anxiety, contempt, anger and frustration.”
RELATED POST: One Year Ago — Fake News & Journalism for Peace — Pope Francis : “The Truth Will Set You Free.”
Fake news and conspiracy theories also prevent serious discussion about the targeted subject.
Surely, it would be far more useful to have an educated discussion about the role played by former Nazis in post-war Germany’s foreign intelligence service.
RELATED POST: Two Years Ago — CIA and BND Employed Former SS “Bloody Brigitte” – Reflections on Nazis and ISIS
Heinrich Himmler and his daughter Gudrun (March 6, 1938)
Himmler’s daughter Gudrun Burwitz — herself a notorious post-war supporter of the extreme right — worked as a secretary (under the assumed name Bodo Hechelhammer) in the BND’s headquarters in Pullach, near Munich, from 1961 to 1963.
Reinhard Gehlen — a former Nazi military intelligence commander — was the head of the West Germany’s spy agency until 1968.
I will take this opportunity to raise a very simple but extremely important question.
Why did the US Government handle the de-Nazification of Germany and the de-Baathification of Iraq in completely opposite manners?
END of UPDATE
REFERENCES
Merkel opens spy agency’s massive new Berlin HQ –Digital Journal
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TODAY — Chancellor Angela Merkel Inaugurated New BND Headquarters (February 8 2019)
One Year Ago — Chancellor Angela Merkel Inaugurates New BND Headquarters (February 8 2019) [UPDATE : The BND Swastika Building Fake Photo]
Intel Today 