Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
The BfV investigates efforts and activities directed against the federal level of Germany or transnational, in matters of foreign policy significance and at the request of a state authority for the protection of the constitution.[7] It is headed by a president (currently Thomas Haldenwang) and two vice-presidents and is organised in twelve departments:[8] In 2022 federal funding for the BfV was €469 million; with a total of 4,414 staff members employed."[10] These include political or violent activities that endanger the security or existence of the Federal Republic of Germany due to their anti-democratic attitudes or intentions, such as extreme left or right-wing parties and organizations or terrorist groups.In 2008, the heads of the constitutional protection authorities specifically called for the strategic monitoring of relevant Internet exchange point such as the DE-CIX.[11] The BfV's legal mandate is to investigate "security-endangering or intelligence-related activities [...] for a foreign power" (§ 3 of the BVerfSchG), i.e. to counter espionage and sabotage within the country.Even today, the BfV's counter-espionage department deals with those former members of the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) of the German Democratic Republic who continue to work in intelligence services, mostly on behalf of Russia.Examples of groups of people whose individual members have been or are being interviewed or observed by the BfV and affiliated organizations are: The primary purpose of intelligence gathering is to inform the federal and state governments as well as the public, who must then draw political conclusions from the findings.The BfV is also authorized to monitor mail and telecommunications (Brief- und Telekommunikationsüberwachung, recording telephone conversations, internet and other data transmissions, mobile phone cell queries).The monitoring of bundled telecommunications (gebündelte Telekommunikation; e.g. via satellite or in internet exchange point) is reserved for the Federal Intelligence Service according to § 5 G-10 Act.This also includes the ability to recognize and classify potential dangers for the security of the Federal Republic of Germany in a national and international context.In the basic course, legal, constitutional, political, business, economic, financial and social science fundamentals of administrative action are taught, as well as organization and information processing.Above all, the BfV offers fully qualified lawyers entry into the higher non-technical administrative service as a junior executive with direct employment as a civil servant.First, in the Vulkan affair in April 1953, 44 suspects were arrested and charged with spying on behalf of East Germany (GDR), but were later released as the information provided by the BfV was insufficient to obtain court verdicts.[19][20][21] For instance, their head from 1955 to 1972, Hubert Schrübbers [de], had been a member of the SA, a Nazi judicial prosecutor involved in cases against racially and politically persecuted individuals who were later murdered in Auschwitz, and an SS executioner in occupied France.[18] The counter-intelligence activities of the BfV were mostly directed against the East German Ministry for State Security (Stasi), another employer of ex-Gestapo agents.Shortly after German reunification, an undercover BfV agent named Klaus Steinmetz successfully infiltrated the Red Army Faction (RAF), the Far Left terrorist organization founded by Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, and Gudrun Ensslin.As a result, Third Generation RAF leaders Birgit Hogefeld and Wolfgang Grams were to be taken into custody by German law enforcement at the railway station at Bad Kleinen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on 27 June 1993.[18][28] The agency was heavily criticised for the destruction of files related to the National Socialist Underground, a neo-Nazi domestic terrorist organization.
Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and CounterterrorismGovernment of GermanyCologneNancy FaeserFederal Minister of the Interior and CommunityThomas HaldenwangSinan SelenFederal Ministry of the InteriorGermanGermanydomestic intelligence agencyLandesämter für Verfassungsschutzfederal agencyintelligence-gatheringliberal democratic basic ordercounter-intelligenceprotective securitysabotageFederal Intelligence ServiceMilitary Counterintelligence Servicefederal intelligence servicestransnationalforeign policystate authority for the protection of the constitutionfederal governmentstatesBundestagFederal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of InformationParliamentary Oversight PanelpoliceBerlinRight-wing extremismG-10 actCounter-espionageLeft-wing extremismIslamic extremismfree democratic basic orderdefensive democracyFederal Republic of Germanyextreme leftright-wing partiesterrorist groupsFederal Police'sInternet exchange pointDE-CIXBundeswehrFederal Ministry of DefenseMilitary Counterintelligence Service (MAD)RussiaTurkeyNorth KoreaMinistry for State Security (Stasi)German Democratic RepublicUkraine warclassified informationtrade secretsubject to secrecyislamismislamist terrorismCriminal Code (StGB)Alternative für DeutschlandDer FlügelJunge NationalistenRing Nationaler FrauenDie RechteDer III. WegNational Socialist UndergroundGerman People's UnionThe LeftCommunist Party of GermanyGerman Communist PartyMarxist–Leninist Party of GermanyRed Army FactionFree German YouthCommunist Party of Turkey/Marxist–LeninistFreie Arbeiterinnen- und Arbeiter-UnionICCB (Chaplains' Association)al-QaidaJihadismTurkish HezbollahMuslim BrotherhoodKurdistan Workers' PartyRevolutionary People's Liberation FrontÜlkücü movementCyber attackRussian FederationPeople's Republic of ChinaIslamic Republic of IranScientologyEastern BlocGünter Guillaumesocialist statesfederalfundamental rightsintelligence meanssurveillanceinfiltrationopen sourcesVerfassungsschutzberichtopen-sourcestelecommunicationsAct on Restrictions on the Secrecy of Mail, Post and Telecommunicationssocial networksdouble agentshard drivecomputerInternetTrojan horseGerman Parliamentary Committee investigation of the NSA spying scandalWeimar RepublicBasic Law for the Federal Republic of GermanyTrizoneNeo-NazismEast GermanyOtto JohnGestapoThird ReichFederal Constitutional Court of GermanyBrown BookNazi GermanyAuschwitzoccupied FranceCologne carnivalMinistry for State SecurityThe Republicansterrorism in Germany