Counter-intelligence

The world of espionage is mysterious. Foreign intelligence services act in secret. Their aim is always to obtain sensitive information. However, they are also involved in state terrorism, influence and disinformation, or sabotage, and they acquire components and know-how for the production of weapons of mass destruction. The German domestic intelligence services investigate illegal activities by foreign powers in and against Germany so that such activities can be stopped.

For the governments of almost all states, sensitive information from abroad is essential in order to develop their policies, to respond in time to global crises or to advance their global political ambitions, for instance.
Diplomats collect publicly available information to brief their governments about current events and long-term developments as well as to promote the relations between their home countries and their host country.

Many governments, though, do not content themselves with gathering publicly available information. Their ambition is to obtain intelligence from other countries that is not intended for the general public. This means entering the world of espionage, which is where the intelligence services come into play as key actors.

Many countries have diplomatic and consular representations in Germany, some of which house “legal residencies”. The term refers to bases used by foreign intelligence services in their host countries under cover of one of their own countries’ official (e.g. embassy, consulate general) or semi-official (e.g. press agency, airline) missions.

The intelligence officers (agents) who seem to work there, for example, as diplomats or journalists engage in overt or covert information gathering or provide support for intelligence operations. Moreover, many intelligence services run operations directly from their headquarters in their home countries.

Foreign intelligence services carry out activities in and against Germany, partly using clandestine methods. They act on behalf of and under the control of their respective governments.

Their governments’ political priorities determine the focus of the intelligence services’ work. They strive to obtain information relating to various fields.

The activities of foreign intelligence services directed against Germany cover a wide range of areas. Their covert activities to gather information and exert illegitimate influence, to illegally acquire weapons and know-how (called “proliferation”) as well as to conduct sabotage and terrorism represent a considerable challenge to the German domestic intelligence services. In addition, the scope for action of foreign intelligence services has significantly expanded because of the development of new technologies and growing digitisation.

Fields of action

Intelligence services obtain a large part of their information from open sources. They regularly analyse the media and specialised publications in their target countries. A resource of information that is traditionally of particular importance in espionage are human sources.

Foreign intelligence services are especially interested in people who seem suitable as sources of information in the long term. Important criteria when choosing these targets are, for instance, the access they currently have to valuable information and their career prospects. Therefore, foreign intelligence services often focus on people who work in the parliamentary sphere, ministries, public authorities and companies as well as in research and science, but members of the armed forces may also be of interest to them.

Nowadays, espionage and influence in general as well as foreign intelligence services’ recruitment of human sources in particular take place both in the real and the virtual world.
Useful ways of obtaining information and of establishing contacts in the real world are visits to trade fairs and attendance at public events, conferences and discussion meetings.

Such events enable foreign intelligence services to not only gain valuable information on specific issues, but also to extend their network of contacts, which may be used to gather information without actually recruiting people as sources. In the virtual world, social media play a very important role because a large amount of personal data can be collected there, which can in turn be used for operational purposes.

Influence and disinformation

In addition to classic espionage, the last few years have increasingly seen influence activities. By means of disinformation and propaganda, other states – also with the help of their intelligence services – intend to exert influence on public opinion as well as on decision-makers in politics, business and science. Their aim is to damage public trust in the rule of law, in state institutions and representatives as well as in independent media. At the same time, foreign actors wish to extend their possibilities of exercising influence.

Influence and disinformation can start by sowing confusion and doubt, by reinforcing existing social fault lines, but also by highlighting the superiority of the foreign actors’ own social model.

Risk factors in an interconnected world

The fact that almost everyone and everything in the world is interconnected means that spying on telecommunications is of great importance to foreign intelligence services.
Normal conversations via telecommunications networks are not secure against eavesdropping. It has to be assumed that foreign intelligence services make considerable efforts to intercept and record the content of telecommunications. It is often almost impossible to detect and prove this. This is aggravated by the fact that German telecommunications are partly routed through servers or Internet exchange points abroad.

There is also a risk of eavesdropping regarding all wireless communications via, for instance, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections. Furthermore, data stored on interconnected devices constitute a risk and may become the focus of espionage activities. In sensitive areas in particular, for example in the direct environment of companies or in the government district of the federal capital of Berlin, there is a real risk of communications interception and of illicit data exfiltration that should not be underestimated.

The role of the German domestic intelligence services

Espionage is a definite threat to German interests. This is, for instance, the case when confidential diplomatic negotiating positions become known beforehand as a result of intelligence operations, which undermines German foreign policy. This is also the case when foreign powers exert undue influence on democratic opinion-forming and decision-making processes. This moreover includes spying on and infiltrating opposition groups from third countries or even attacks against dissidents by foreign intelligence services in Germany. Furthermore, the loss of know-how and the economic damage caused by espionage are immense. Espionage by foreign states is always detrimental to Germany’s national sovereignty. Uncovering and preventing espionage activities by foreign intelligence services is one of the core tasks of the German domestic intelligence services.

The importance of cooperation

For the counter-intelligence department of the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), cooperation with a variety of national and international bodies is vital.
At national level, BfV’s counter-intelligence department works closely with other agencies: the domestic intelligence services of the federal states, the German foreign intelligence service BND, the Federal Office of Military Counter-Intelligence (BAMAD), the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the Federal Public Prosecutor (GBA) as well as other agencies of various ministries.

Moreover, BfV exchanges information, on a regular basis or as required, at European and international level. This leads to new intelligence and contributes to BfV’s being able to flexibly respond and adapt to situations posing a risk to security.

Future challenges

Foreign intelligence services will try to spy in Germany in future as well. Foreign actors will also pursue their secret efforts to exert influence. Illegally acquiring sensitive products and technologies from Germany and using them for new weapon systems continues to be of importance to some states.

Changing (global) political circumstances, new technological possibilities and a tendency towards state terrorist activities constantly present new challenges to BfV’s counter-intelligence department. This requires a careful and proactive approach.