Berlin Secret Service
New management for Constitutional Security
Data Security woman Schmid and state security chief Haeberer to take over management of the institution
Berlin, Germany
December 18, 2000
TagesspiegelHolger Stark
"Constitutional Security," said the departing secret agency chief Eduard Vermander in his last appearance in the House of Representatives, "is currently barely capable of doing its job and is busy taking care of itself." That was the end of June, after the Interior Senator had announced the formal dissolution of the office. Six months later the lead position of the Berlin secret service is newly filled: data security commissioner Claudia Schmid is to be the new chief of Constitutional Security and leading policeman Peter-Michael Haeberer will stand at her side as her representative.
Interior Senator Eckart Werthebach (CDU), formerly president of the Federal Office for Constitutional Security, let his state secretary Mathilde Koller pave the way last Spring to restructure the crisis-wracked Berlin intelligence agency. Since then Koller, who previously led the Sachsen Constitutional Security, has been involved in hardly anything else other than renovating the office. Koller reduced the number of staff by about 30 down to 214, doing away with those positions, and is getting a new secret service law set up. The Interior Administration had really wanted to present its findings in September. But the negotiations with the Social Democrats has taken its toll; the Social Democrats wanted to have more controls than Werthebach would have liked. Finally the coalition came to a compromise and the law will be passed in December.
The main difficulty Werthebach and Koller had was in looking for new management for the institution. After Vermander retired, the office has been led by Bernhard Dybowski provisionally. But Dybowski, regarded as a CDU man, is not a full attorney, which thereby officially disqualified him for the job. Besides that the long-term secret agent was contested in the coalition. Werthebach and Koller wanted to start all over again and Dybowski did not fit the bill. Werthebach, who knows the field better than anyone else, would have preferred to get a president from one of the other state offices - but nobody who was asked accepted. Coalition circles said the reputation of the Berlin office had become so bad that nobody from the outside could be gotten to fill it. At the end of November Werthebach finally acknowledged that "candidates [for the job] do not grow on trees" - and delayed the filling of the position.
Attorney Claudia Schmid, who has worked with data security for more than ten years, is regarded by both the SPD and CDU as an expert with a high degree of technical experience. In her work as data security agent, in which she also reported to the secret service, she won respect across party lines. Schmid is looked upon as aligned with the FDP. With Peter-Michael Haeberer, a long-term security expert will turn into a Constitutional security agent. Haeberer has been working for years in police state security, most recently as director of the department responsible for politically motivated crime.
Werthebach had decided upon the formal dissolution of the State Office for Constitutional Protection in March after it was revealed that an undercover agent had infiltrated the PDS. Prior to that the secret service had accused high-ranking police office Otto Dreksler of belonging to the Scientology sect - wrongly, as it turned out.
The duo will be presented as soon as possible. It would be the first time that a woman stood at the top of the Berlin secret service.
Tradition-conscious chief leaves his post
Constitutional Security chief will step down on July 1 due to numerous failures. His post has a long tradition of scandals - dating back to 1952
Berlin, Germany
June 21, 2000
taz Berlin lokal Nr. 6172Yesterday was Eduard Vermander's last public appearance as chief of the [Berlin] State Office of Constitutional Security (LfV). At month's end he will vacate his seat - two years ahead of time - "at his own request" and go into retirement. This wording is always used to in lieu of a disgraceful dismissal. And that is what Vermander was facing. An embarrassing break-down in proceedings against the Republicans' party and false Scientology accusations against police director Otto Dreksler ruined his career.
It was not much different for the office's predecessor. Of the ten LfV directors so far, only two provisional candidates managed to leave the post intact, career-wise. The series of failures began in 1952. After only several months, Wener Otto, the first office director, was dismissed "at his own request." Behind that was political intrigue and a "wild private life" at the cost of the tax payers. Gotthard Friedrich (1952 - 53) did not last much longer. Of all the people to put under surveillance, he chose Berlin Assembly representatives. He was "furloughed."
It was not until Heinz Wiechmann (1953 - 65), the third chief of the secret agents, that the ongoing changes ended. He had his scandals, though, like the surveillance of the Berlin Unemployed Association. But Wiechmann did a better job of handling events than did his predecessors, up until the "Clausewitz Pension Affair." The Clausewitz Pension, a bordello frequented by members of the underworld, Soviet agents and German politicians alike, also cost him his career in 1965. A list of the illustrious circle of customers had come into the hands of Constitutional Security. On instruction from the Allied Security Officer, his existence was denied by the Interior Senator. When Wiechman lied when asked about that, he was fired the third time he said "no."
The mission of Heinz Fahs (1965 - 66 ), his successor, consisted of keeping the seat warm for Eberhard Zachmann. Zachmann (1966 - 74 ) was resident for almost ten years. He initialized the great era of professional deception, which was perfected by his successor, Franz Natusch (1975 - 86 ). The facts that CDU Representative and Interior Senator-to-be Heinrich Lummer gave a rightwing group a bribe under the eyes of Constitutional Security agents in 1971, his own involvement in the Schmuecker murder case in 1974 and Lummer's dabbling with the Stasi from 1970 to 1984 all conveniently disappeared in LfV file cabinets. It was not until one year after his retirement that the the tension of the Zachmann/Natusch scandal caught up with him in 1990.
After Natusch's departure in 1986, the director's chair once again turned into a carousel. Dieter Wagner (1986 - 89), like Vermander a secret service import from Baden-Wuettemberg, held out there only two and a half years. He had tried to have SPD Representative Erich Petzold investigated. When that man became Interior Senator in 1989, making him Wagner's boss, Wagner's career came abruptly to an end. He was succeeded by his acting representative, Berlin criminal detective Dieter Schenk. He was supposed to really "clean house" in the chronically scandal-ridden office and see to it that legitimate work was done. His successor was named nine weeks later.
Then government official Heinz Annussek (1990 - 95) took over direction of the office. He quickly took a like for the flair of secret service, but otherwise led the agency as bureaucratically and with such a lack of imagination as he had previously in the Interior Administration's Issues of Budget and Personnel. That was exactly what was to trigger the Mykonos scandal: in fall 1992, four exile Kurdish politicians were murdered by Iranian intelligence agents. The string-puller of the assassination had long been known to the LfV, but they did not perform telephone surveillance since they did not have an interpreter. In spite of this failure, Annussek was permitted to keep his post until he retired.
He was succeeded in 1995 by Eduard Vermander. Upon his departure, Interior Senator Werthebach now wants to officially dissolve the Constitutional Security Office and re-structure it. This is not likely to be a big help to Vermander's successor.
Otto Diederichs
Interview
Do away with the Offices for the Protection of the Constitution?
jW spoke with Renate Kuenast, faction chief for Buendnis 90/ The Greens in the Berlin House of State Representatives
Berlin, Germany
April 26, 2000
junge WeltF: The Buendnis 90/ The Greens faction is demanding the final dissolution of the Berlin State Office for the Protection of the Constitution [which will be referred to from here on in as "Constitutional Security"]. You submitted a proposal to do that in the House of Representatives last week. Why?
After a far greater than ten year chronicle of scandal from the Berlin Office, one has to conclude that our Constitution is not being legitimately protected by the office, its staff or its legal basis. That alone is reason enough.
F: Could you give a couple of examples from this chronicle of scandal?
There have been investigatory committees on a regular basis since 1986. The Schmuecker and the Lummer investigatory committees, the committee on the Mykonos assassination and finally the one on the proceedings at the Israeli General Consulate. The last big scandal is the one that broke the camel's back. How did the office get the deluded idea of claiming that Police Director Dreksler was a member of Scientology. As we were trying to clear that up, we noticed how sloppily management worked. It simply robbed Peter to pay Paul. We found out how many former Stasi people were involved. Parliament was still being lied to as we were doing that. There continue to be opinions as to the reorganization of the office so that it can finally do its work legitimately.
Before the close of the budget council for the year 2000, the Interior Senator spoke of structure reforms. One week later he took it back. Now he wants to transfer the office and its staff into the Interior Administration.
F: Wouldn't that be a solution?
No. That will not work with the same personnel and with the information and files which have now been collected, a majority of which I do not believe are legitimate. By the same personnel, I mean not only the Indians, but also the chiefs. Those are the ones who have seen to it down through the years that the office has operated in legally gray areas. Insofar as that goes, this project is sheerly a case of false labelling.
Therefore we have submitted a parliamentary proposal to completely dissolve the office.
F: What chances do you see for your proposal?
One can argue about what federal law compels one to do. In the end, it obviously compels one to have this kind of shield. But I can say that about anything. I think that it would best be done from within an open agency, by the State Center for Political Education Work, for example. All the other very many social scientists have been giving us warning about political developments sooner than have the Office. They were completely blind when it came to surveillance of rightwing extremism. There were plenty of attacks and the Office did not know anything about them. And then there's the system. Using an agency that operates in secret, social developments and dangers such as hostility to foreigners and racism cannot generally be uncovered in a timely manner. Nor in other ways do I see a reason, not even in the area of espionage, which was supposed to justify this Office. Just the opposite. One slowly has to say that the greatest danger for the Constitution is the Office for Constitutional Security.
F: Why are you only demanding the dissolution of the Berlin Office, why not all the others?
I can ask the question for all the other state offices and absolutely for the federal office, too. What have they contributed to political conference? Nothing? When the Wall still stood, the agents were never moved to something greater - previously all their actions were under observation by the Stasi. Today I still don't know about why the Federal Office has to spy on Scientology or parts of the PDS. Perhaps that is how one finally gets the social pressure needed to produce a majority. Unfortunately that is not yet there. Therefore the proposal is not incorrect.
F: Do you have support from other parties?
None with which I can produce a majority in the German Parliament. We all know that Otto Schily and the SPD say "no" to this position. Changes and limitations to the mission areas were already discussed during coalition negotiations at the federal level. Then we received a simple "no" from the SPD.
F: But aren't there other parties who will support your proposal?
You mean the PDS? Yes, sure. But I cannot produce a majority with them. Neither is the PDS the most favorable coalition partner on this position because they will very soon be de-masked in their own dealings with the secret intelligence service in the East German DDR. It depends upon whether it can be made clear to society at large that these offices are superfluous.
F: How do you intend to do that?
The discussion must continue. I have been in it for over ten years, ever since I have been in this oversight committee. The fact that we have continually had investigatory committees and have been openly scrutinized, that we have had to reorganize on a regular basis and, now, even dissolve the office into a subordinate agency, tells us a few things. There is clearly a deficit of legitimization. In this place one must ask: what are we getting from it?
F: When will the proposal be voted upon?
That depends on the length of the discussion. The proposal will be brought to the floor on the session of 18 May. Then there will be a counter-presentation of concepts. Perhaps the Interior Senator will present his proposal for the transfer of the personnel into the Interior Agency there. That will begin the critical debate in the Berlin Parliament.
Interview: Fanny Komaritzan
On Wednesday, the faction of Buendnis90/The Greens submitted a legislative proposal to the House of Representatives for the dissolution of the State Office for Constitutional Security. The proposal said that the integration of Constitutional Security into the Interior Administration which is planned by the Senate could not remove past entanglements and mishaps. Berlin Constitutional Security has repeatedly been criticized. For instance, a former Stasi informant who worked for the State Office wrongly accused a police office of being a member of the Scientology Organization.
Berlin State Office of Constitutional Security
The new beginning is a retreat to old times
Even under the roof of the Interior Administration there is the question of the sense of the "unruly" agency
Berlin, Germany
April 1, 2000
Der TagesspiegelGerd Nowakowski
There finally remained only the radical step, the dissolution of the stand-alone office. By doing that, has Interior Senator Eckart Werthebach cut through the Gordian knot of all the scandals, underhanded dealings and technical failures? The public revelation of a former Stasi captain as undercover staff was only the latest to show what a security risk the office itself it. All efforts to reform, the envisioned structure changes and the personnel turnover which Werthebach announced a year ago, have gone awry, lost in the underbrush of an unruly agency. Dissolution is only the conclusion to a disaster.
In the past few years, the office has existed only as a caricature of an intelligence agency, almost completely involved in itself. That has had consequences. Its work results have often proved to be highly explosive time bombs for those politically responsible for the agency. Dilettantish spying on a police director suspected of being a member of Scientology brought Interior Senator Werthebach himself into difficulty. How little the secret agents' work is worth has also been proven in court when the office, ashamed, could present little to justify the surveillance of the rightwing extremist Republicans. Departing office chief Eduard Vermander is not alone responsible for the debacle in the chaotic agency. He never really had a grip on the office. Explosive failures such as the storming of the Israeli consulate can be chalked up to his account.
Now there is supposed to be a new beginning for the Constitutional Security agents under direct control of the Interior Senator. Is that a "victory," as Buendnis Greens faction chief Renate Kuenast put it? No, that is no cause for celebration. Because the radical new system is only a route back to old relationships. Namely, until 1989 Constitutional Security was a part of the Interior administration. It was Interior Senator Erich Paetzold in the Red-Green coalition who made the intelligence agency a stand-alone office - to be able to better control it. Back then, that step was also finally supposed to turn the office into a functioning agency. Back then, Greens security politician Kuenast also expressed delight over the new system.
Having Constitutional Security on the short leash of the Senator is therefore still no guarantee of better times to come. Interior Senator Werthebach - that has to be said of him - runs the risk of imputation. He has now made himself directly politically responsible before Parliament. Whether parliamentary control functions better now than before is questionable. The special proximity to the Senator also hides the danger of politically misusing Constitutional Security. One recalls the office was part of the Interior administration when it came out only after a ten-year trial of the murder of the Schmuecker students that an undercover agent was present at the scene of the crime and that the murder weapon had disappeared afterwards from an office cabinet.
So after the new beginning, Werthebach will have old assignments before him. Without rigid control, basic personnel turnover - and a constant rotation of staff to prevent secrecy - the office will continue in the old style. In which, as Red-Green Interior Senator Paetzold knows from the last attempt at reform, one can easily founder.
What Werthebach proposes is a courageous step. But will he only save that which has long been superfluous? Constitutional Security offices in nearly all German states have been desperately looking for work for years. Because the danger of leftwing terrorism is untiringly elevated or promoted, despite the rapid collapse of the radical scene, the offices transfer new assignments in the operational control and general surveillance. The more intensive these demands become, the more there is a question of whether such a domestic intelligence agency is necessary for a secure democracy like the Federal Republic. Its existence was founded in the era of the Cold War, when the young Federal Republic was a fragile structure. Now, no one would be so naive as to believe that politically motivated violent crime would not occur in the future. But the resolution of such acts is not the mission of Constitutional Security; that is what the police are for. Constitutional Security, security politicians say among themselves, does not make a lot of sense anymore. What could the success of reform be - having an intelligence agency which could no longer do any damage in the field? That would be much - and yet too little. Even then intelligence expert Werthebach would still have to answer up.
Berlin Constitutional Security
The list of failures is long
Berlin, Germany
March 31, 2000
Die Weltby Matthias Bieder
Interior Senator Eckart Werthebach's (CDU) dissolution of the Berlin State Office for Constitutional Security (LfV) is also a reaction to the scandals of the past. The most recent case is the straw that broke the camel's back: in the past several weeks it was revealed that the office was using an ex-Stasi officer to spy on the PDS. The agent whose cover name was "Foerster" had been foreseen in the DDR [East German] era to be city keeper of Wilmersdorf in [the event of] an occupation of West Berlin. In the meantime, Werthebach has filed charges in "Foerster's" blown cover and has initiated preliminary disciplinary investigations. Charges of "criminal work violations" were filed. The failures of Berlin Constitutional Security:
1988: The State Office used Steffen T., a convicted "stone thrower," to observe SPD Representative and Interior Senator-to-be Erich Paetzold in order to investigate his findings.
1992: In an assassination in the "Mykonos" restaurant, agents of the Iranian intelligence service short four opposition politicians. Constitutional Security was accused of omissions in their estimation of the security situation.
1998: Office cooperation with former Stasi staff first came to light in the affair involving Police Director Otto Dreksler. In an anonymous letter, the director of the police operations center was accused of being a member of the "Scientology" sect. Ex-Stasi informant Adolf P. (76, code name "Junior") subsequently stated that he had once seen Dreksler in front of the Scientology Center building. This statement was sufficient for Constitutional Security to give evidence against Dreksler to the effect that he was a Scientologist. The police director was suspended. The accusation, however, could not be proven and Dreksler was reinstated. It was later said that the anonymous denouncer was also Stasi staff and was a former acquaintance of "Junior."
1999: An undercover man who was assigned to the Berlin Kurds center, did not get word of the storming of the Israeli General Consulate as he was leaving. In the melee that followed four Kurds were shot to death by Israeli guards. It was later said that Constitutional Security Chief had destroyed a file about the non-existent ranking sequence of endangered establishments after the arrest of Kurdish leader Ocalan. Vermander is being investigated for that.
New beginning for Constitutional Security
Werthebach dissolves State Office
Berlin, Germany
March 30, 2000
Der TagesspiegelThe intelligence agency will be rebuilt as a department of the Interior Administration. The Interior Senator is thereby taking "the consequences of indiscretion and scandal."
Holger Stark
Interior Senator Eckart Werthebach wants a whole new beginning for Constitutional Security. Yesterday, the CDU politician announced that the State Office for Constitutional Security will be dissolved in July and there will be a personnel turnover. The intelligence agency will be managed as a department of the Interior Administration. "These are the consequences of past indiscretions which we have experienced in recent times," Werthebach said to the Tagesspiegel. At the end of 2002, Werthebach wants to merge the Berlin intelligence agency with Brandenburg. The office was under constant criticism in the past because of scandals. The last upset was when a former Stasi captain's cover was blown. The man had been spying on parts of the PDS as an undercover agent.
Werthebach said before the Interior experts of the parties of the House of Representatives that "direct guidance and influence" would be possible through integration in the Interior Administration. Constitutional Security's public information work is to be taken over by the Senate's Administration for the Interior. Werthebach announced that Constitutional Security will concentrate its work on violence-prone areas of extremism. "The attainment of information using intelligence methods will no longer be in first place." Werthebach also promised greater transparency.
The timing was favorable because Constitutional Security was already going to be moving out of Dahlem to Kleistpark. There will no longer be a successor of equal rank to take Constitutional Security President Eduard Vermander's place July 1. The new chief will have the position of a department director. Various state laws will have to be changed for the dissolution. The reorganizing offers better opportunities to pension off undesired staff or to transfer them to different departments in the administration.
In the case of the agent whose cover was blown, Werthebach announced charges of "felonious treason" against unknown parties. He has ordered preliminary investigations to identify the unknown informant who brought to light that Constitutional Security had used a Stasi captain on PDS groups. Constitutional Security had planned to continue operating the undercover man from Thueringen after Berlin had promised to no longer employ former MfS [former East German Ministry of Security] people as undercover men. With the exception of the CDU, all parties have criticized the cooperation with the former Stasi captain.
Reform of the office itself, however, was welcomed by all factions. Renate Kuenast talked of a "victory." "I take that as a confession of guilt," said the faction chief of the Greens. The CDU said it hoped that the capability to operate would at last be restored. The factions agreed unanimously that extensive turnover would have to take place. Just three months ago, the structure of the agency had been reorganized. The anticipated personnel turnover, however, did not take place: only one leading official came from a different agency.
Constitutional Security has been regarded for a long time as a troublesome agency whose work was continually crippled by scandal. Internal agency conflicts escalated when former Stasi informant, "Junior," who was employed by Constitutional as an undercover man, described leading policeman Otto Dreksler as a member of the Scientology sect - unjustly. Tumultuous drama came about in the office as the case was being worked out. Besides that, the state attorney's office was investigating Vermander and two of his leading staff for records destruction in connection with the occupation of the Israeli consulate in February 1999.
The Scandal Chronicles:
Paetzold, Mykonos, shredders, Stasi ...
March, 30, 2000
Der Tagesspiegelza/host
1988: SPD Representative and Interior Senator-to-be Erich Paetzold was under surveillance by an undercover man. Paetzold was not deliberately being eavesdropped upon, but was being treated as a "potential source of findings," determined an investigatory committee in the House of Representatives.
1992: Four Iranian opposition leaders were murdered in the "Mykonos" restaurant. An investigative committee accused Interior Heckelmann and Constitutional Security of serious neglect and a false assessment of the security situation. As a consequence the office was temporarily put under the Senate Chancellory.
1998: Intelligence surveillance of Police Director Otto Dreksler turned into a fiasco for Constitutional Security. Constitutional Security's accusation that Dreksler was a Scientology member proved to be untenable. The police officer ended up being reinstated.
1999: An undercover man who was supposed to have been observing the Kurdish Action Center in February 1999, simply went to work for the Israeli General Consulate before the raid. Supposedly the drama could have been prevented.
1999: Also in February, the "shredder case" made headlines. In connection with the storming of the Israeli General Consulate, Constitutional Security Chief Vermander destroyed a folder. The state attorney's office is investigating.
Stasi officer now undercover agent against the PDS
Constitutional Security still operating a former MfS agent in Summer 1999
Berlin, Germany
March 25, 2000
Der TagesspiegelHolger Stark
Over the years, Constitutional Security has been running a former Stasi officer as an undercover man. The former MfS [East German Ministry for Security] officer with the cover name of "Foerster" was first used on Stasi successor groups. After their dissolution, he provided information about the "communist platform" of the PDS. In June 1999, the Interior Administration communicated that Constitutional Security had stopped any cooperation with former Stasi people. According to information the "Tagesspiegel" has received, though, the State Office of Constitutional Security did not intend to completely lose their informants. "Foerster," went the idea from Constitutional Security, would be run by Thueringen Constitutional Security, but continue to report from Berlin.
To that end, Constitutional Security Chief Eduard Vermander personally contacted the director of the Thueringen intelligence agency in summer of last year. Roewer said he was ready to take over the contact man. In a meeting in late summer of 1999, the Berlin undercover case supervisor allegedly asked the source, "Foerster," whether he was ready to work again, but for a different office. "Foerster" agreed. Meetings between "Foerster" and Berlin officials were taking place until at least September 1999. In Constitutional Security circles it was said that the planned takeover of the undercover man by Thueringen finally failed. Werthebach's spokesman Stefan Paris also confirmed yesterday that meetings with the source took place after June, but only out of a social "concern." It was said that, after June, "the flow of all information had ceased."
The "Tagesspiegel" has had information about the case for several weeks. Last weekend, this newspaper asked Werthebach what his position was. The Interior Senator asked that information not be published prematurely out of consideration for the person of the undercover man. The next Monday there was an emergency meeting in the Interior administration with top Constitutional Security staff; since then uproar has reigned. On Monday afternoon, the Senator informed the government factions of the SPD and CDU about the case. A press report on Friday finally answered the question of how the identity of the man was at risk: the "Berliner Morgenpost" was said to have reported in such detail on the informant that his cover would be blown. After that, the presiding SPD chairman, Klaus-Uwe Benneter, called a special session of the Constitutional Security committee yesterday.
The criticism of the cooperation with former MfS staff goes back to the "Dreksler affair" in 1998. A former Stasi informant, who was working for Constitutional Security, had wrongly described leading police officer Otto Dreksler as a Scientologist. Upon that Dreksler was suspended and later transferred. In fall 1998, the Interior Senator of the time Joerg Schoenbohm, admitted that the state office was working with "fewer than a half dozen" former MfS members. The Stasi people, according to Schoenbohm, had been necessary to observe the progress of the [East German] DDR intelligence agency.
After the Dreksler disaster, the SPD and the opposition criticized the employment of MfS people. SPD faction chief of the time, Klaus Boeger, said that it made a "lousy impression." At last the Interior Administration said it was ready to "switch off" all undercover men who had a past in the Stasi. This was said by State Secretary of the time, Kuno Boese, to have gone into effect on June 24, 1999: "The State Office for Constitutional Security does not work together with former staff of the Ministry for Security."
After that statement was made, though, more meetings with "Foerster" took place in which the questions was addressed of how the undercover man could again operate and how he should conduct himself. Constitutional Security agents had originally paid former MfS staff to get information about Stasi successor organizations. But almost all connections to former MfS people have gone to rest since the mid 1990s. Therefore several undercover people were "turned off" and others were applied to new subject areas - like undercover man "Junior," alias Adolf P., the informant who observed the Scientology sect, thereby setting off the Dreksler scandal.
Undercover man "Foerster," who no longer has a cover, is said to have been providing designated information about the "communist platform" for a monthly wage for some time. Piquantly, "Foerster" was involved in the DDR in spying on the opposition. In a plan drawn up by General Lieutenant Wolfgang Schwanitz for the occupation of West Berlin, "Foerster" had been designated in the mid 1980s to lead the Wilmersdorf MfS service center which was to have been created. The Schwanitz connection is also interesting because one of Schwanitz' relatives had also worked for Berlin Constitutional Security after the Change [unification] as an undercover man. His cover was blown several weeks ago in connection with the Dreksler affair.
Constitutional Security the Stasi Nest
The third DDR agent has been uncovered in the ranks of the Berlin Intelligence Service
Berlin, Germany
March 24, 2000
Berliner Morgenpost 2000by Dirk Banse and Michael Behrendt
Things are not quieting down at thee Berlin State Office for Constitutional Security ["Landesamt fuer Verfassungsschutz"] (LfV). Research by the "Berliner Morgenpost" has now yield that, besides the cases which are already known, the office has worked with another high-ranking former Stasi officer.
The piquant thing about it: the man with the LfV cover name of "Foerster" had been selected in the 1980s by Stasi General Wolfgang Schwanitz to be Stasi Chief in the Wilmersdorf district in an occupation of West Berlin and to see to it that "hostile forces were tracked down and rendered harmless." Ten years later, Berlin Constitutional Security put him and others on the PDS detachment of the communist platform.
The undercover man "Foerster" was officially "switched off" after the public revelation that other Stasi informants were retained by Constitutional Security. Nevertheless, the ominous source was said to still be skimmed for information by the uppermost planes of Berlin Constitutional Security, said a source at the agency. Cooperation of any sort of the LfV with former members of the DDR intelligence service had been consistently disputed by Interior Senator Eckart Werthebach and his former State Secretary Kuno Boese since summer of 1998. In researching the Gauck agency, it was revealed several years ago that Stasi General Wolfgang Schwanitz had signed plans in 1985 for the occupation of West Berlin. On "Day X" twelve Stasi agency positions were to be established and "enemy powers tracked down and rendered harmless."
The "Berliner Morgenpost" had recently reported that Wolfgang Schwanitz' step-son had been observing Scientology for Constitutional Security. But that was apparently not the end of the indirect connections of the Stasi General and the last leader of the Office for National Security in the DDR to Berlin Constitutional Security.
The Captain who was up for Wilmersdorf Stasi Chief in the West Berlin occupation plan was also highly valued by Constitutional Security as an informant in the communist platform. "Foerster" is regarded as a high intelligence strategist who is said to have delivered outstanding results. In recent days he has become a security case for the LfV, said an unnamed source, because his true identity is at risk. Chaos reigns in Constitutional Security.
The Stasi connection to Constitutional Security hit the fan in summer 1998 during the Dreksler affair. The police director was accused in an anonymous letter of being a Scientology member. A little later, Constitutional Security verified that the high-ranking policeman was a Scientologist in agency testimony. But there was no foundation to speak of to that kind of testimony.
For its statement, the LfV relied on another Stasi informant, 73 year old Adolf P., alias "Junior." Constitutional Security later used the step-son of Stasi General Schwanitz on Scientology: Results: Dreksler is not a Scientologist.
Interior Senator Eckart Werthebach, not yet in Berlin at the beginning of the affair, regards the case as a disinformation campaign by former Stasi informants. The suspicion that another ex-Stasi spy wrote the anonymous letter which made the accusations against Dreksler also supports that view. The 73 year old Adolf P., in turn, is one of his acquaintances. The state attorney's office is investigating at full speed to uncover the anonymous letter-writer and the string-pullers behind the intrigue.
Dreksler Affair
Why were only Stasi informants used on Scientology?
Berlin, Germany
March 17, 2000
Berliner Morgenpostby Dirk Banse and Michael Behrendt
It's been almost two years since one of the biggest police scandals in Berlin got a start. Yet it has still not been explained why police director Otto Dreksler was wrongly described as a Scientologist, first anonymously, and then by Constitutional Security. New errors were continuously revealed. But if things go the way the CDU members of the Constitutional Security Committee would like, a cloak of silence will be drawn over the whole affair. That was made clear in yesterday's committee session. As Interior Senator Eckart Werthebach said, "This whole story has been over for years."
Apparently the members of the other three factions see things differently. For example, Buendnis 90/The Greens have asked an explanation of why Constitutional Security was exclusively using former members of the DDR State Security against Scientology. As reported, the undercover men spying on Scientology were Adolf P., alias "Junior" and the step-son, alias "Herbert," of Wolfgang Schwanitz, the last Stasi chief. The latter told the "Berliner Morgenpost," "I have never seen the police director in the sect. It is completely incomprehensible to me why agency management described this man as a Scientologist. That's hiding behind the system somewhere."
What everything is really pointing to is that a secret plot against Otto Dreksler and the Berlin Security authorities had been concocted. In the past year, Interior Senator Eckart Werthebach has spoken of a disinformation campaign by the Stasi. Ex-staff of the DDR intelligence agency have, beyond any doubt, played a significant role in the affair. Besides the undercover men, there is much to support the concept that the anonymous letter writer who first slandered Dreksler had also snitched for the Stasi in the DDR era.
Therefore, SPD Vice Chief Klaus Benneter also asked yesterday why Stasi spies were used on Scientology. The theme was so explosive that it was not dealt with in public. Renate Kuenast, faction chief of the Buendnis/Greens, also wondered about the use of former DDR agents in Constitutional Security. "The Interior Senator at the time, Joerg Schoenbohm, stated that Stasi spies were only being implemented to observe continuing structures of that secret agency." It has not yet been explained what led Constitutional Security management, including the Interior Senator and State Secretary, to deviate from this policy. Interior Senator Werthebach recalled something else in connection with this, that Constitutional Security, according to the Stasi documents law, need not check out undercover men from the Gauck agency. PDS Representative Gernot Klemm asked, "They how could they know which undercover people at Constitutional Security had worked for the Stasi?" Werthebach made reference to the intelligence agency's alternatives.
But many members of the committee were left with an uneasy feeling. However, Eckart Werthebach said, Constitutional Security had been reorganized, but, according to Renate Kuenast, the new interior changes were no guarantee that this type of failure would not repeat itself.
In the meantime, the state attorney's office is attempting to find out who was behind the intrigue. Investigation is currently in process.
New scandal in the Berlin security agency: the son of ex-Stasi General Wolfgang Schwanitz was used by Constitutional Security on Berlin police director Otto Dreksler. Undercover man "Herbert's" mission: he was to deliver evidence that Dreksler was a member of the Scientology psycho-sect. The "Berlin Morgenpost" learned of this from a source in the intelligence agency who did not wish to be identified. In August, 1985, Wolfgang Schwanitz, as Lieutenant General in the Ministry for State Security (MfS), signed plans for the occupation of West Berlin. From 1986 to 1989, Schwanitz was an aide to Stasi secret police chief Mielke and, between November '89 and January '90, headed the Stasi's successor organization, the Office for National Security. Schwanitz' son also worked for the Stasi.
It was already known that Constitutional Security used 76 year old Adolf P., alias "Junior," as an undercover man in the sect. Unbelievable, but he also used to work for the DDR East Germany secret service.
Besides "Junior" and "Herbert," the Berlin intelligence service had no sources in Scientology. Reconaissance of the sect turned into a fiasco for Constitutional Security. Dreksler, who was branded a Scientologist by the intelligences service's management as early as March 31, 1998, had to be reinstated after having been suspended and maligned. But who is going to take responsibility for this campaign which was launched only on the basis of an anonymous letter?
Apparently not the undercover people in Constitutional Security, because in the course of their duties on March 27, 1998, they explicitly stated that Dreksler could not be described as a Scientologist. That is proved by documents which are available to the "BM" [this newspaper]. Despite that, four days later the agency management issued the following statement: "Otto Dreksler is a member of Scientology." The consequences were personal surveillance and a search of his premises. Nobody could produce proof of his membership. Undercover man Adolf P., the only source Constitutional Security had in Scientology until May '98, was supposed to fulfill the high expectations of State Interior Secretary Dr. Kuno Boese. Yet he could not identify Dreksler as a sect member. Apparently Boese and leading members of Constitutional Security did not want to hear that.
More undercover men were sought who could deliver Dreksler to the gallows. After a failed attempt to recruit a Scientology member in which the Constitutional Security agent even got photographed by the sect, a professional was to be employed. Then someone remembered the son of Stasi Chief Schwanitz. He - as did "Junior" - had offered his services. But "Herbert" could not find Dreksler in the psycho-sect. Upon that he was deemed untrustworthy.
It was a perfect failure; the agency's statements about Dreksler's membership in Scientology were no longer worth a thing. Constitutional Security and the Interior Senate were blamed. In the meantime, State Interior Secretary Kuno Boese is no longer in office and Constitutional Security Chief Eduard Vermander now wants to vacate his office. State security and the state attorney's office have taken over the investigation. It is still not clear as to whether there will be legal consequences for the breakdown. Otto Dreksler has already been granted compensation from the State of Berlin for 35,000 marks. The affair began on March 20, 1998. At that time an anonymous author sent letters to the police presidents, the Interior Senator, the presiding mayor and the "BZ" newspaper. In the night of March 20/21 "Junior" was given the case. Constitutional Security management had even urged that the undercover man be woken up, as he reported. In a subsequent hearing before the Constitutional Security Committee, the 76-year-old man said that he had never clearly identified Dreksler as a Scientologist.
The state atorney's office is continuing to investigate. They still have to explain who set off the intrigue. Much supports former Stasi agents wanting to harm the Berlin security agency. At last an ex-Stasi agenct is suspected of having written the anonymous letter which indicated Drekler's membership in Scientology. He was one of the police director's staff. His past in the DDR East German secret service is said to have been made known to former State Interior Secretary Kuno Boese.
But the past lives of their undercover men and police are only moderately interesting to the security agency. On September 4, 1997, Constitutional Security's secret security commissioner supported the employment of Stasi informant Adolf P.: "In the first separation from the Ministry for State Security P. was accused of unreliability (oppression) . . . P.'s characteristic traits and conduct are for the most part rated as objectively negative, on the other hand they present a suitable basis for implementation as a source in a target of surveillance."
Late resignation
Berlin page
Berlin's chief Constitutional Security agent leaves after many scandals
Berlin, Germany
January 7, 2000
Sueddeutsche ZeitungEduard Vermander, director of the State Office for Constitutional Security, which has been making headlines, will leave office prematurely on July 1. This is happening, it is said, "at his own wish" for "personal and familial reasons." A similar request was taken in December of last year from Interior Senator Eckart Werthebach. Surprisingly this step has not occurred. The list of the large and small scandals of the secret agency is long.
Vermander, who comes from Berlin and studied law at the Free University, made a name for himself as police president in Karlsruhe and Stuttgart before he got back to Berlin in 1995. The former director of Constitutional Security in Baden-Wuerttemberg was assured that he had "never backed into the briars" ("Stuttgart Zeitung" newspaper). This was not to be his fate in Berlin. It was revealed in March 1998 that an undercover man, who had previously worked for DDR [East German] state security, had uncovered a police director as a supposed Scientologist - unjustly, as it later turned out. Yet neither Constitutional Security nor the person to whom it reported, Interior Senator Joerg Schoenbohm, took political responsibility. In spite of that, the harm for the image of the security agency was immense.
Vermander also played a controversial role in the explanation for an attack on the Israeli Consulate General in February 2000 [sic] by Kurdish PKK activists. In that case four Kurds were shot and killed by Israeli security agents.
This past fall, Greens politician Wolfgang Wieland filed criminal charges of "breach of office." Vermander was suspected of having destroyed a record entry by the Federal Office of Constitutional Security which proved the Israeli building was in particular danger.
A copy of the letter had previously ended up with vice chief Klaus Mueller. Mueller, who had been in a clinch with his boss since the Scientology affair, verified the existence of the document for an investigating committee. He has since then been transferred to the post of security agencies coordinator. He has not yet assumed the post, for reasons of health, as it is said. Buendnis/Greens Wieland regards Vermander's separation as a "long overdue resignation" of a man who he said was responsible for the events in his agency and who he said had "proved incapable of confession."
Andreas Moeller
*Secret service moving
Berlin, Germany
November 17, 1999
Der Tagesspiegel["Landesamtes für Verfassungschutz (LfV)" - State Office for Constitutional Security/Protection - US has a branch of the FBI perform these functions, which some call "domestic intelligence"]
Berlin Constitutional Security moving to Kleistpark for financial reasons
Concurrent restructuring to take place - five functional areas to replace three departments
Holger Stark
Berlin Constitutional Security is to leave its remote domicile in Zehlendorf. The complete move of the state office is planned for the first quarter of 2000. It still remains to be seen when the long planned reform of the office will finally be put into effect. Restructuring of the office into five functional areas with new department directors is anticipated. Their official confirmation by Inner Senator Eckart Werthebach (CDU has yet to occur. The work of the secret service, which continues to be criticized, is supposed to be improved by the reform.
The new home for the approximately 250 staff of the State Office for Constitutional Security (LfV) is situated in Kleistpark next to the BVG building and the Chamber Court. The building currently houses a welfare office; the secret service already has a field branch there. This is also to coordinate various work areas of the LfV and to improve the work, said a Constitutional Security spokesman. The move, however, is not taking place primarily for reasons of transparency or serviceability, but for financial reasons because there are vacancies there. Up until this time the office has resided "on the ridge" on Clay Boulevard in Zehlendorf.
However, there is still no date for the previously decided reform of the office. The former three departments of the LfV are to be re-organized into five functional areas. The positions of the nine functional area directors are regarded as secure internally, however there has been no confirmation of personnel. Dietmar Peitsch is anticipated for functional area 1 "Fundamental Affairs." Peitsch, a CDU member, had held the corresponding position in the area of public affairs and legal issues.
It is said that functional area 2 "Administrative Service" will be led by Siegfried Nenstiel, an SPD man who has been responsible for personnel, internal affairs and administration. Bernhard Dybowski, also CDU, has been named as chief of functional area 3 "Counter-espionage." This area, in which Dybowski has also been working, is to include foreign extremism. Security circles have been the source of criticism in that Dybowski does not have any experience in the foreign area. That area was added to the espionage area because of the approach many foreign groups take toward the governments of their native countries. The present director of the state security police, Stephan Schlange-Schoeningen, is being discussed for functional area 4 "Extremism." Schlange-Schoeningen does not represent a party. Besides the surveillance of leftwing and rightwing extremism, the surveillance of Scientology also falls into this area.
The present chief of the espionage area, Christoph Krause, also of the CDU, will transfer to the head of the new functional area 5 "Acquisition," whose missions include observation. This personnel change is regarded as controversial among experts because Krause has never before been employed in the acquisition of information, but has only worked in the evaluation thereof.
The personnel proposals are not undisputed in security circles. Besides Stephan Schlange-Schoeningen, only one person has never worked for Constitutional Security before. The reform is, however, not only supposed to make the operation more efficient, but is also supposed to inject fresh blood into management. The speaker for the Inner Administration, Norbert Schmidt, said that the personnel assignments are being discussed, but have not been decided. There is not yet a schedule for the transfers.
Reinstated and put on ice
Berlin, Germany
October 29, 1999
taz Berlin lokal Nr. 5977by Plutonia Plarre
The accusation that Police Director Otto Dreksler was a member of the Scientology sect fell to the side long ago. But one year later much is still unexplained.
When Police Director Otto Dreksler glances out the window of his office at the Spandau State Police School, he is faced with an idyllic scene. The grass in the park with its tall trees is covered with iridescent leaves which rustle softly in the fall wind. Jay birds hop from limb to limb. The sound of woodpeckers can be heard. "I have always dreamt of something like this," said the 54 year old senior police official ironically. The truth is that the police director, who was unjustly accused of being a Scientologist by Constitutional Security and later reinstated, has been pushed away from the center of power of the police presidium to the pie-in-the-sky on the city's fringes. Three gold stars on his shoulder board and a CDU party book in his pocket, he was on his way to the high point in his career.
It was shortly before his promotion when the abrupt collapse came in spring of 1998. On March 20 of that year, an anonymous letter-writer had addressed a letter to the Interior Administration, police presidents, combined personnel board and the BZ newspaper which asserted that Dreksler had belonged to a leading cadre of the Scientology psycho-sect for three years. The letter and the testimony of a 77 year old undercover man by the name of "Junior," formerly an unofficial Stasi secret police staff member, was enough for Constitutional Security to relieve Dreksler of his post as director of the operations center on March 31, 19998. The state attorney searched Dreksler's residence and work spaces. Nothing was found which could confirm a connection to the sect.
Three months later, on July 21, 1998, the presiding Interior Senator, Joerg Schoenbohm (CDU) stated that the suspicions against the police director were groundless. He was reinstated. The same day he could pick up his fourth star.
Since then, the Interior Administration has made an effort to keep the parliamentarians from getting a look into Constitutional Security's original documents. Despite that, in early October, ARD magazine "Kontraste" was able to publish documents which proved that "Junior," the undercover man, had not clearly identified Dreksler from a selection of photographs as a member of Scientology. The official testimony which was incriminating to Dreksler, though, was still used by Constitutional Security.
After his reinstatement, Dreksler again became director of the operations center. But relations between him and his colleague had been strained from the scandal and were marked by distrust. Dreksler accepted the consequences: recently he asked for transfer to a vacant position of lecture director at the state police school.
But that does not take care of the matter for Dreksler. He sued the State of Berlin in civil court for 70,000 DM damages. The senior police official also intends to fight politically until Constitutional Security has put all its cards on the table: "I'm not going to let up. It doesn't happen that the state office operates in a vacuum and can be controlled by neither the courts nor the Parliament because the Interior Administration has decided what documents can be presented and which cannot."
Kuno Boese (CDU), the Interior Secretary who has oversight over Constitutional Security, has at least admitted that Constitutional Security has made "technical errors." Renate Kuenast is not going to be satisfied with that statement, though. She is convinced that Boese exercised "a monstrous" pressure on the agency to get it to prove that Dreksler was a member of Scientology. She said that Boese had wanted to make a name for himself on the high wave of Scientology hysteria at the time. Berlin had chaired the Work Group on Scientology for the Interior Ministers at one time.
It was whispered in CDU circles that Boese was thinking only of his own career in his action: if he would have managed to uncover a police director from the management level as a member of Scientology, he would have been able to prove, far beyond the city's limits, that he was meant for higher things. It is an open secret that Boese was happy to succeed Interior Senator Schoenbohm who had transferred to Brandenburg.
The Dreksler scandal however, for which he and Constitutional Security Chief Eduard Vermander are held responsible by the opposition, has stuck to him like bubble gum on the sole of his shoe. It has meanwhile become questionable as to whether, in the coming legislative period, he will even be able to hold onto the State Secretary's chair. Few of his party comrades give him a high chance of rising in the Berlin CDU. According to press reports, Boese is on the move. The question is, where?
Renate Kuenast is convinced that Dreksler did not fit in well with Boese's career plans. She thinks the policeman was to be gotten out of the way using mob mentality "because many people could not stand him." That theory is decisively denied by those in Boese's area: they say the State Secretary valued the now leading police director for his great technical qualities. And Constitutional Security was said to have taken action in the Dreksler case strictly by the books.
There is something to be said for Dreksler having done more harm than good to his Christian Democrat party book. Boese and Dreksler, who ascended the political stage in the slipstream of former Interior Senator Dieter Heckelmann (CDU), were treated in party circles in 1995 as successors to Interior Secretary Armin Jaeger, who moved to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Dreksler was described as a hard-liner who sat on the district representative assembly in his residential district of Zehlendorf and conducted numerous events in the CDU work group for security on themes like "foreign criminality." In his active social schedule, he was seen with colleagues from the police force and friends from his political party, and even with CDU Interior Minister Manfred Kanther.
Not everybody in the CDU saw Dreksler's rise in the police force and his political success as appropriate. When the Scientology suspicions came up, most of his political friends shied away from him. Only two representatives, Ruediger Jakesch and Harald Grieger, stuck with him.
Neither did the police force provide cover for Dreksler. Police President Saberschinsky repeatedly wondered aloud to Constitutional Security Chief Eduard Vermander whether this horrible suspicion could be true. But he did not come out on the offensive against Dreksler. Renate Kuenast wanted more involvement: "The police president should have immediately demanded to see all the incriminating evidence. Then it would have occurred to him that there was nothing to the matter." There is a simple reason for the member of the Green Party [Kuenast] getting so involved in backing the police director: "You cannot permit a person from Constitutional Security acting solo to be enough to destroy a person personally and professionally."
Things do not happen that way, as shown by the case of a Berlin administrative judge who had been accused in early summer 1998 of being a member of Scientology. Outraged colleagues opened fire on Constitutional Security until the case had been reviewed again. The result: the testimony of the undercover man proved to be worthless. The case of the administrative judge was also the reason why a commission of interior administration and constitutional security staff scrutinized the Dreksler case in early summer 1998. The results of that are known.
Dreksler did not have the advantage of solidarity from his colleagues. He was hated by his 500 subordinates in radio operations central because he had wanted to do away with 12 hour shifts in favor of a need-oriented work schedule, and transferred 110 officers out of the Interior agency to the police beat. He got many bad reactions from that, including an anonymous letter which had a bomb with a burning fuse which was, fortunately, only painted on it. Colleagues of his own rank did not have much good to say about Dreksler. He was said to be overbearing, polarizing and unapproachable.
After his reinstatement, Dreksler had gotten himself completely into the role of an outsider. One essential reason for that was that he was not ready to talk about a mysterious list of personnel which had been found in his residence in spring 1998 during the search. In that list, Dreksler had noted the names of senior police officials, their functions and party membership. State Secretary Boese brought that up on July 20, 1998, one day before Dreksler's reinstatement, to the state attorney general of the state court. He was to check into whether an investigation should be made into whether Dreksler had violated the date security law.
The state attorney's office did not press charges.
Dreksler himself had stated in a 2 page press release that this list had been necessary for his political and professional work.
This 4-star policeman's lack of many friends in the police presidium may also be due to his rigorous concepts of Law-and-Order. Just as his mentor, Heckelmann, Dreksler has taken up battle against the hat-passers on Kurfuerstendamm and the illegal merchants at Brandenburg Gate. And with his "constant" work as chief of the 1st police reserve, he has counteracted any de-escalation efforts against masqueraders in street demonstrations.
There was a confrontation between Dreksler and the director of Area 5, Klaus Karau (SPD). A shift supervisor had ordered use of nightsticks against demonstrators. The situation escalated, and mass beatings ensued.
Karau is said to have insulted and berated the shift supervisor, who was not present, in the most violent way. Dreksler sided with the shift supervisor. He abruptly forbid the insulting tone. Both are then said to have yelled at each other in an indescribable manner. Apparently there was not much holding them back from coming to fisticuffs in the management staff room.
Dreksler Case before the court
The police director who was unjustly accused of being a Scientologist sues
Berlin, Germany
October 26, 1999
Berliner MorgenpostThe "Dreksler Case" has now come before the court. The proceedings against Berlin State begin today in the civil court on Tegeler Way in Charlottenburg. Police Director Otto Dreksler demands 50,000 marks in damages, along with 16,000 marks material compensation. Grounds for the complaint was the unjustifiable official statement of March 31, 1998, which said that the director of the operations center of the Berlin police was a Scientologist. Berlin Constitutional Security, which had been conducting an investigation, later had to admit that its suspicions were groundless and could not be proved. The secret agents had argued that undercover man Adolf P., alias "Junior," had identified Dreksler repeatedly, but then later contradicted himself.
This man, though, whose employment had been personally blessed by Inner State Secretary Dr. Kuno Boese, is an ex-staff member of the East German DDR Ministry for State Security.
A letter signed by Constitutional Security chief Eduard Vermander on September 17, 1998 said that on July 21 the Inner Senator had decided at an agency meeting that Dreksler "would again have to be used in his former capacity." One other line said, however, that Otto Dreksler, on July 22nd, one day after the mentioned agency meeting, was under observation from 6 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. Presumably this observation had not been stopped in a timely manner. This is just as implausible as it is unprofessional as all the work done by the Berlin security agency in this case. Only one anonymous letter and the statement of a highly controversial undercover man who was over seventy years old - who now says that he never saw Dreksler near Scientology - sufficed for an agency report. Only the vice chief of Constitutional Security, Klaus Mueller, was said to have asked that the investigation be suspended. He, however, was transferred and is now coordinator of the security agencies. An assignment which does not really exist, and which can be observed by the agency director himself. The victim himself, Otto Dreksler, also seems to have been put out of the way. He is now lecture director at the state police school. In contrast to that, the ones politically responsible for the work in this case, Constitutional Security chief Eduard Vermander and Inner State Secretary Eckart Werthebach, are still in office. Inner Senator Eckart Werthebach, during this affair, was not yet employed in Berlin.
D. Banse, M. Behrendt
"It was all a ploy"
The Dreksler Case
Berlin, Germany
September 17, 1999
Berliner MorgenpostChristine Richter
Her decision stands fast: Ingeborg Dreksler, wife of management level police official Otto Dreksler, intends to leave the CDU after having been a long-term member of the party. "I've had enough," she said on Thursday after a session of the Constitutional Security committee in which the representatives once more discussed the Scientology affair.
"Nobody has apologized to my husband. Nobody from the CDU." Mrs. Dreksler is outraged. Only the Buendnis/Greens seriously backed the reinstatement of her husband. She does not want to speculate for what reason that may be. The main thing is that somebody does it.
Ingeborg Dreksler was already uneasy during the representatives' debate on the issue of whether the undercover man would be heard or not. "Impudence," she murmured as Interior Senator Eckart Werthebach (CDU) said that his predecessor, Interior Senator Joerg Schoenbohm (CDU), had apologized to Dreksler and reinstated him. She does not believe that is right; she believes that nobody has apologized. Not even Schoenbohm. Her husband was to have been promoted before the Scientology accusations became known; the promotion was then said to have been stopped. "But nothing happened afterwards, either," said Mrs. Dreksler. Her husband now works in the police academy as department head. Two days before his transfer to the academy, his promised position of vice director was given to someone else. "Everything that's going on here is a foolish pretext."
Because of this, Ingeborg Dreksler has no doubt as to the authenticity of the testimony from Adolf Peter, the undercover man who claimed to never have accused her husband of being a Scientologist. She is convinced, "the man is not senile." Mrs. Dreksler spoke of ill-will and envy towards her husband's career, and of his political success in the Zehlendorf CDU, and of a professional ploy. "The only good thing is that my husband now has a little peace and quiet." She does not want any peace herself, she is angry. She could hardly bear it when the Interior Senator said, before the television cameras, that the Dreksler case was closed. "That's not right at all," she scolded.
Eckart Werthebach, who saw Mrs. Dreksler for the first time this day, tried to calm her. "Politically, the case is through being discussed. However, the state attorney's investigation into the anonymous letter and the falsified press release is still open," explained the Interior Senator. However, he is not able to say whether the investigations will yield results as to who kicked off the Dreksler affair in March 1998, or even if the investigation will be successfully concluded. "I want to know who the guilty person is," said Mrs. Dreksler.
Criticism of Constitutional Security
Berlin, Germany
September 8, 1999
Der TagesspiegelGreens demand Vermander's resignation
The "Buendnis"/Greens have demanded that the Senate put Eduard Vermander, the Chief of the State Office for Constitutional Security, into retirement. At the same time Interior Senator Eckart Werthebach (CDU) should reinstate former representative Klaus Mueller, demanded top Green representative Renate Kuenast. Mueller had been transferred to the interior administration - from the Greens' view a "punishment transfer", because Mueller had repeatedly contradicted Vermander.
The condition of Constitutional Security was said by Kuenast to be "desolate" and Vermander "overtaxed." She said the office had committed "serious mistakes in tradecraft" like the Mykonos scandal or the case of the assertion that high-ranking Otto D. was a member of Scientology sect. Mueller was said to have pointed out this alleged mistake in judgment by Vermander. The "peak" was said to have been the record destruction in connection with the events at the Israeli consulate. Vermander was said to have stated on March 6 in a letter to the interior administration that in a telephone conversation with Constitutional Security, they had not named a ranking list of countries at risk. Three days later Vermander had written a new letter which mentioned the priority list. The first letter was destroyed by Vermander. His representative, Mueller, refused to give up his copy. Interior State Secretary Kuno Boese (CDU) accused the Greens yesterday of abusing the election process and he rejected the retirement of Vermander.
Scientology Scandal
Berlin, Germany
September 4, 1999
Der TagesspiegelParliamentary opinion backs Interior Senator by preventing testimony of undercover man
The saga of the false accusation of Scientology membership by Berlin Constitutional Security against Police Director Otto D. continues. The undercover G-man, "Junior," key figure in the scandal, may not testify before the Constitutional Security Committee of the House of Representatives without permission from Interior Senator Eckart Werthebach. To do otherwise would make him subject to punitive measures. This is the conclusion of an opinion of the Academic Parliamentary Agency, a copy of which has been viewed by the "Tagesspiegel" [this newspaper]. In it Interior Senator Eckart Werthebach has won a victory in terms of points.
The opinion has required that "Buendnis 90" and the SPD join the PDS in their application. They also wanted to question the undercover G-man. Probably nothing will come of that. Even if it is taken into consideration that Adolf P., alias "Junior" was not acting as one of the "regular force," but as a "secret ... (independent) contractor" of Constitutional Security, according to the opinion, in being recruited he was still subject by the "exclusion clause" to secrecy. In addition his testimony could also affected protected personal interests of Police Director Otto D. It was concluded from that that Adolf P. may not publicly testify without official permission. However, Adolf P. has already done exactly that on multiple occasions in the Berlin media.
In answer to the "Tagespiegel's" question, the Interior administration would not yet publish the opinion. It is being reviewed, however, to see if charges could be brought against the former undercover agent "for the former testimonies." The PDS, according to their representative Marion Seeling, will persevere in its summons of the G-man before the committee. Otherwise the public's "legitimate need to know" would not be realized. This opinion is also shared by Renate Kuenast from "Buendnis 90"/the Green Party. In any case she demanded from Werthebach that he grant the ex-G-man the necessary permission, because "the Senator persistently stonewalls when it comes to the necessary glance into records for information."
Police Director Dreksler demands recompensation for Scientology Affair
Berlin, Germany
May 27, 1999
Berliner ZeitungConstitutional Security committee meets today over slander
by Christine Richter
Police Director Otto Dreksler, who was wrongly suspected of being a Scientologist by the state office for Constitutional Security (LfV) in March 1998, and who was suspended from duty for several months because of that, has filed a complaint for slander, defamation and insult. Besides that, the police director intends to sue the state of Berlin for damages, said Dreksler's attorney, Johann Schmid-Drachmann on Wednesday.
Anonymous letter appeared
After the Scientology Affair, the state office for Constitutional Security has not been able to stay out of the headlines. Now an anonymous letter has appeared which, in the estimation of Constitutional Security agents, has come straight out of the "Inner Circle" of the state office as it reveals intimate details about the staff and their failure in the critical examination of Dreksler. Besides that an undercover man has identified himself as having previously worked for the state security organ of the DDR, and as being the one who had identified Dreksler last year as a Scientologist. The man, who is currently 76 years old, blames the agency for the failure and now asserts that he had never seen Dreksler with the Scientologists.
"The talks are entering a new round," said Dreksler's attorney in response to this. The complaint of defamation was rejected by the state attorney's office for the reason that one could not investigate a perpetrator of the action in Constitutional Security. In view of the accusations in the anonymous letter and the statements of the former undercover man, it's a whole new situation, said Schmid-Drachmann. The attorney has applied for a reopening of the investigation. Besides that, Dreksler intends to seek 65,000 marks in damages from the state of Berlin, represented by the Senate interior administration. Next week the police director will decide on the appropriate complaint against the state of Berlin, according to his attorney. So far the interior administration is ready to pay only 3,090 marks. That is the honoria which Dreksler would have received, but didn't because of the accusations against him, as an instructor at the technical upper school for administration and law.
The anonymous letter, which had been authored in the form of a press release, is supposed to be discussed in the appropriate committee today. The Administrative Assistant of Constitutional Security chief Eduard Vermander and other management staff are accused in it of having been gullible in regards to the accusations against Dreksler. In the letter it is also claimed that there is still a second "highly established primary HVA officer on the DDR nomenclator" who had been assigned to the investigation of the Berlin Scientology center. "The reference that other former principle Stasi officers have been recruited by the office is, to my knowledge, accurate," responded Green's Representative Renate Kuenast. The Constitutional Security expert has seen the files in the Dreksler case, but may not talk about them for reasons of confidentiality. For Kuenast, the Dreksler affair serves as a model. "For decades there have been serious technical mistakes made in the state office, and now an office director who is constantly being blamed by subordinate staff and a state secretary and senator who do not have Constitutional Security under control," criticized the Green Party representative.
No headway made in Reform
Constitutional Security chief Vermander and Interior Senator Eckart Werthebach (CDU) so far have no comment in response to the accusations. The letter is said to be "an outright fake" only in the state office and in the Senate interior administration. Among the Constitutional Security staff though, unrest has been growing in the meantime about management, which has not publicly defended itself against the accusations. "Everybody is shaken up here," said a source in the state office. The agency's reform which was announce in Spring by the interior senator has not made any headway. As reported, Werthebach intended to tighten up the departments, separate the functions of "Information Acquisition" and "Evaluation," and institute rotation of staff. "A couple of positions were dropped, but nothing else has happened," criticize Constitutional Security agents.
Berlin, Germany
May 25, 1999
Berliner MorgenpostSo came the MfS Man to the Constitutional Security agency
[MfS: Ministry for State Security]
On the testimony of Adolf P., Police Director Otto Dreksler came under suspicion of working with Scientology
by Dirk Banse and Michael Behrendt
The former East German State Security (Stasi) informant who worked for Berlin Constitutional Security as an undercover man in surveillance of the Scientology sect, was, in his own words, a former East Berlin staff member of DDR espionage chief Markus Wolf. That is what 76 year old Adolf P told the Berliner Morgenpost. The testimony of Adolf P. contributed to the director of Berlin police operations, Otto Dreksler, being suspended from duty in 1998. Dreksler was suspected of having been a member of the Scientology Church. However the accusations proved to be unfounded.
The 76 year old reported that he had worked until 1974 as undercover staff for the main office of information under Markus Wolf. "From the start I communicated with the State Office for Constitutional Security. Special permission was prepared for me. My reports, so I was told, went as high up as Interior State Secretary Kuno Boese."
The former Stasi spy himself applied in spring of 1997 to the State Office of Constitutional Security (LfV). "I threw my application right there in their mailbox. A short time late, someone actually called on me."
Adolf P. was assigned to the Scientology sect, where he played a decisive role in the Dreksler case. When an anonymous letter cast doubt upon the police director as a member of Scientology last year, Adolf P. says he was shown a photograph of Dreksler. "I saw the man once in front of the Berlin Scientology center. But that does not mean that I saw him inside the building. I was told by Constitutional Security that my statement checked out."
Since then the 76 year old man is no longer working for the LfV. "They let me go." He assumes that he was a victim of an inside conspiracy against Dreksler. Adolf P. stated, "Dreksler was not liked and was in line for promotion. They probably wanted to prevent that."
Police President Hagen Saberschinsky angrily dismissed all suspicions in regard to his agency. "Nobody can believe that someone wanted to harm police officer Dreksler in this manner. On the contrary, we were the ones who spoke out for him."
Schönbohm no longer wants a deputy in security agency
From: "Berliner Morgenpost"
Friday, November 6, 1998by Hans Krump
In the state office for Constitutional Protection [Landesamt für Verfassungsschutz (LfV)] there will be "fewer levels of hierarchy and the paths of information and decision will streamlined," said State Senator Jörg Schönbohm (CDU) before the Constitutional Protection Committee. According to the overall structural plan of the reorganization of the office, the level of the current deputy chief will drop out and the three departments (basic, counter-espionage, surveillance) will be changed into "flexible professional groups."
Weak points in the organization and poor utilization of personnel showed up in the cases of police official Dreksler who was incorrectly categorized as a Scientologist, and in the unjust, as decided by court decision, surveillance of Republicans, said Schönbohm. Deputy Chief Klaus Müller is especially under the gun. His function as permanent representative of office chief Eduard Vermander, and who reviews the same documents as the chief does, has not paid off, explained Schönbohm. Instead, one of the three functional chiefs will represent the LfV Chief in his absence. These officials would go from grade A16 to B.
In the study of the state administration, old personal animosities as well as professional friendships were disregarded. There will be more rotation among offices in order to "counter operational blindness." Continued control will be introduced by a revision to state procedures. The LfV must make more work available for public information and political consultation, said Schönbohm. A fine tuning of the new structure of the LfV by the state will be presented by April, 1999.
Kirsten Flesch (SPD) described the proposal as "changing the door signs." Department directors will be re-named functional directors, but retain their salary. Green party leader Renate Künast criticized Schönbohm's "analysis of weak points" as investigating only the structure under the LfV chief, and protecting Vermander and the political management. Rotation would be difficult as long as there were an LfV [security] supplement.
Despite opposition votes to the contrary, the committee approved the 1999 LfV budget for 20.5 million marks (1998: 20.8). The staff remains nearly unchanged at 248 (from 249). Seven empty positions will remain vacant until after the reorganization, according to committee resolution.
©Berliner Morgenpost 1998
http://www.berliner-morgenpost.de/bin/bm/e?u=/bm/inhalt/heute/berlin/story11.html
Secret Agents to Lose Deputy
From: "TAZ"
November 6, 19986Deputy Director's position eliminated in security agency reorganization
German domestic intelligence will have to get along without a deputy director in the future. The position has been eliminated in the planned reorganization of the State Office for Constitutional Protection. This reorganization was decided upon after the episode in which a police director was wrongly accused of being a Scientology member. Jorg Schonbohm (CDU), the responsible state senator, yesterday stated before the Constitutional Protection Committee that the director's position had not paid off in actual practice. He stated that the increased paperwork had not been productive.
As a result, Klaus Muller, a CDU man and critical head of the office, will lose his job as deputy director. Muller was going to retire in four years. Green party representative Renate Kunast's response to the elimination of the position was to call it an "attempt to get rid of a disagreeable member of staff." If the Senator did not work with the deputy director and did not give him any assignments, then he shouldn't complain that that he wasn't getting anything in return, said Kunast. In view of the security agency's episodes of summer of this year, she considers "more management and not less" to be necessary.
As a result of the re-structuring of the agency, the department heads will be eliminated as a hierarchical level. Instead five section chiefs will be placed in a higher wage category. This received strong criticism from the Greens and PDS. An increase in the budget will not take place, according to the security agency's statement, since several positions will be eliminated.
The question of how the planned rotation of state agents will be compatible with the rights of office [Dienstrecht] had not been decided as of yesterday. A restriction, said Schonbohm, was that transfer into other offices was not covered by the security supplement. The proposal by the Greens that the supplement be done away with has thus far not met with approval by the CDU and SPD. SPD Representative Kirsten Flesch welcomed the separation of the collection and evaluation of information by the security agency. This had been analyzed to be the weak point of the office in the most recent affair. Details of the re-structuring of the security agency are to be presented at the end of March.
Dorothee Winden
TAZ-BERLIN Nr. 5679 vom 06.11.1998 Seite 18 Berlin Aktuell 69 Zeilen
TAZ-Bericht Dorothee Winden
© Contrapress media GmbH
Senate rules out Dismissals from LfV
- Notes:
- LfV: Landesamt für Verfassungsschutz
State Office of Constitutional Protection
(Domestic Intelligence and/or State Security).- Stasi: former East German secret police.
From: "Yahoo! Schlagzeilen, Kurznachrichten"
Tuesday, 8. September 1998, 16:05 UhrBerlin (Reuters) - The Berlin Senate rejected dismissals of personnel as a result of the use of former Stasi staff as informants for state security. "Offers of or demands for resignation are completely out of the question," said Senate speaker Michael-Andreas Buts on Tuesday after a session of the CDU-SPD state administration. State Senator Jorg Schonbohm (CDU) reported about the use of former Stasi members as a source of personnel for the state security office. It had at first been mentioned among the ranks of the Senate staff that personnel dismissals could not be ruled out.
Buts did not mention details of Schonbohm's report to journalists. It has been mentioned in press reports that at least three former Stasi staff have served for the LfV. Schonbohm has confirmed that the LfV had received information from a former Stasi man. The Senator will inform the appropriate parliamentary committee on Thursday in a confidential session. In that session, it will also be explained whether the former Stasi agent was the informant who incorrectly identified a police director as being a member of the Scientology Church.
Buts defended the Berlin LfV's practice of obtaining information from former Stasi staff. "If you want to hear certain things from the Stasi's former jurisdiction, then you have to do business with these people," said Buts. Another question was placed which asked how the information was evaluated. Buts replied that former Stasi personnel were not occupied as the primary official staff of the LfV.
"Der Tagesspiegel" newspaper reported that changes in personnel will result from the affair later on this week. Whether this would affect the management in the office led by Eduard Vermander is still undetermined.
Copyright © 1998 Reuters Limited. All Right Reserved.
http://www.yahoo.de/schlagzeilen/19980908/kurzberichte/905270700-0000033371.html
Once "Stasi", now Constitutional Protection
From: "Berliner Morgenpost"
September 6, 1998Employment of agents escapes the state administration
by Dirk Banse and Michael Behrendt
The political pressure is mounting for State Senator Jorg Schonbohm. After the affair of the "false Scientologist," Otto Dreksler, who was was relieved of duties for alleged membership in the sect and later had to be reinstated, the Berlin Office of Constitutional Protection (state security) is once again in the cross-fire of criticism. On Saturday, Schonbohm told the Berliner Morgenpost that the ranks of state security would be reviewed to see if they were bustling with former "Stasi" agents. He had confirmed that fact in a report in "Der Spiegel" news magazine that at least three former Stasi staff had been recruited.
Schonbohm stated, "I know of one case, as to the others I have nothing to say." The process will take place in a secret session; the Senator will not give an official opinion from his office. To the question about possible reactions, Schonbohm stated, "The case must first be reviewed." An Interior Minister of a German state is supposed to have said that there were "Stasi" officers were in other high positions.
Particularly bothersome is that, according to the "Spiegel" information, one of the former Stasi men was the undercover agent is is said to have described Berlin Police Director Otto Dreksler as a Scientology member. The undercover agent had the code name "Junior" and was engaged with the knowledge and approval of State Secretary Kuno Bose. The engagement of other former Stasi agents had not been reviewed by the state administration.
Otto Dreksler told the Berliner Morgenpost, "It is inconceivable that a Stasi man would be given more credibility than a long term police office of the City of Berlin. Now is the time to wrap up my case and to unmask the people behind the scenes." After the accusation against Dreksler was proven to be unfounded, all parties in the House of Representatives had made demands ranging from personal apology to and explanation of the case.
The state authorities have not only been under heavy fire in the Dreksler case in the past few weeks. There were also made responsible for the Administrative Court of Berlin forbidding the surveillance of the rights directed Republicans this week. State intelligence is said to have done sloppy research in both cases.
State intelligence is now reviewing the PDS, the successor party to the SED.
(c) Berliner Morgenpost 1998
The Berlin state security office employs former East German secret police officers as undercover agents
From: "DAS DEUTSCHE NACHRICHTEN-MAGAZIN"
September 5, 1998As reported by the news magazine, "Der Spiegel 37/98", there are at least three former DDR agents employed by state security. State Senator Jorg Schonbohm (CDU) had instructed the office to review the records of all undercover agents and present him with a complete overview of all former "Stasi" agents in their employ. He hopes, states the State Senator, "that it will be fewer than a half dozen."
As the magazine further states, the agent who wrongly accused Berlin Police Director Otto Dreksler last March was one of the former "Stasi" men. Before state security contracted him under the code name "Junior" as an undercover agent, the Berlin State Secretary, Kuno Bose, had been informed. After review, according to "Der Spiegel," Schonbohm's representative approved further contracts with the ex-Stasi agent in this individual case without further review by the Senate administration.
Further reports to follow at 8:30 p.m.
(c) 1998 Peter Zobel Ressort Information
Schonbohm says
Intelligence Agency at FaultIn this article "Verfassungsschutz" is translated as "domestic intelligence" or the "intelligence agency" or "service."
State Senator shirks political responsibility in the failure of the intelligence service in their pre-mature suspicions of Scientology
From: "taz" July 27, 1998
by Dorothee Winden
Since the interior administration has had to admit in the past week that domestic intelligence had prematurely confirmed the membership of a police director in the Scientology sect without proof, a dispute for the political responsibility of the affair has been kindled.
Interior Senator Jorg Schonbohm (CDU) has tried to avoid the responsibility for the intelligence agency. The public discussion with all the dire consequences, including those of Police Director D. and his family, are said "not to have been caused by the interior department," and therefore cannot be defended by them, Schonbohm stated to "Spiegel" magazine. Even the CDU party chief, Klaus Landowsky, is taking the flak for his party companion. He says that the interior senator is "completely blameless."
However, it is not going to be that easy for Schonbohm to work his way out of the matter. Kuno Bose, the state secretary responsible for domestic intelligence was not in close contact with the service in their principle decisions, but was involved after the fact in the investigation of the anonymous accusations against the police director. Bose approved special funds for intelligence. 10,000 marks alone was available for the purchase of the member list of Berlin Scientology. However, that also came to naught. Schonbohm was also implicated since the anonymous accusations against the leading police official appeared in March. Since Wednesday of the past week, the 53 year old [police director] has been fully reinstated, and is fully active as the director of the police operations center.
Nevertheless, the State Office of Domestic Intelligence will not take the matter upon their own shoulders. According to "Focus" magazine, the intelligence agency states that Interior State Secretary Bose has complicity in the hasty disposition of the authority's information. According to "Focus", the first consequences of the scandal will be the immediate replacement of several high-ranking staff in the intelligence agency. The 250 member strong office is to be completely re-structured. Departments will be merged, renamed, and more tightly networked together.
Alliance/Green Representative Renate Kunast expressed a concern yesterday that the intelligence agency would be made "more streamlined from Schonbohm's and Bose's views". She is worried that staff who are critical will be weeded out this way. The restructure of the agency had already been planned for months, according to Kunast. She demands to know the cause of the catastrophe before the reorganization takes place.
Editorial
Schonbohm under cover
Whenever the going gets a little risky, CDU party chief Klaus Landowsky has to step in. That's what these statements are, that Interior Senator Schonbohm has no fault of any sort in the intelligence disaster as far as wrongly suspecting people of being Scientologists, no more than an indicator to rate that fellow party members are under a lot of pressure. Landowsky is not even a close friend of Schonbohm's.
It also seems convenient for Schonbohm to avert the responsibility for this disgrace to the intelligence service. Usually, it would not occur to an ex-general to go undercover. That is a symptom of a lack of Schonbohm's political instinct. A reorganization of the office does not clear the matter up. As a member of the intelligence committee, the interior senator will have to be asked why the intelligence service was able to prematurely confirm the suspicion in a record time of eight days. Was there pressure from the interior administration to get results quickly? Or did he, in his zeal, let himself be come to a premature conclusion that an - alleged - Scientologist had infiltrated a police position of leadership? It is alarming that a police official would be suspended because of an anonymous letter and the statement of an undercover intelligence man.
There is no question that the shabby and dilettantish intelligence agency proceedings is old hat to its critics. However, the refusal to take political responsibility could bring Schonbohm yet further embarrassment.
Shadows of doubt
continue to fall upon
Berlin intelligence officeQuestionable Undercover man in "Scientology Affair"
From : "DIE WELT"
July 27, 1998TH - Interior Senator Jorg Schonbohm, his State Secretary Kuno Bose (both CDU), and Intelligence Agency Chief Eduard Vermander are coming under stronger pressure in the case of Police Director Otto Dreksler, who apparently was unjustly suspected of being a member of Scientology.
According to a report by the news magazine "Der Spiegel", all the statements of the undercover agent who had testified against Dreksler were re-categorized as untrustworthy. Because the intelligence agency was not able to prove the accusations against him, Dreksler just recently reassumed his position as director of the police operations center.
Until that time, the undercover agent and "veteran Scientologist," who had been giving the intelligence service information about the sect since 1997, according to the report, had been regarded by the service as "highly dependable." After Dreksler, a CDU member, had been denounced by an anonymous letter writer at the end of March as leading cadre member of Scientology, the intelligence office confirmed the accusation only a few days later. The sole reason for the decision was that the undercover agent had immediately identified Dreksler, from a group of photographs, as a member of the "OT Committee," a leadership group of so-called "Operating Thetans." For reasons of secrecy, these super Scientologists meet only in private residences. Dreksler had never been suspected because of his high position in the police department, said the undercover agent. The Baden-Wurttemberg state intelligence office had also stated that Dreksler was a Scientologist, according to the "Spiegel."
Doubts about the dependability of its top spy first came to light about four months ago, when the informer unjustly accused Eike-Eckehard Baring, a Berlin Administrative judge, of being a Scientologist. In a second report to Schonbohm and Bose, the intelligence agency had to publicly concede that they also had nothing definite on Dreksler.
As a counter-measure, the police director has brought up charges of slander and gossip against the investigating intelligence agency in his case. Klaus Landowsky, the CDU party chairman, who refused to say anything previously despite urgent requests from Dreksler, also demanded an apology from the intelligence agency.
According to statements by the "Focus" news magazine, as a result of this affair, the state office for domestic intelligence will be completely reorganized. Departments will be merged, renamed, and more closely networked. Several high-ranking officials will be replaced forthwith. According to "Focus," the intelligence agency will state that State Secretary Bose has complicity in the hasty preparation of the erroneous official testimony.
The Case of Otto D.
Review of the Investigation
Police had been designated a Scientologist
From: "Berliner Zeitung
July 27, 1998by Matthias Gebauer
Interior Senator Jorg Schonbohm (CDU) wants to review how the state intelligence agency came to the decision that Police Director Otto D. was an (alleged) Scientologist. Otto D. has been reinstated and officially cleared of the accusation since July 22. Now the investigative documents of the intelligence agency will be reviewed, said Isabell Kalbitzer, the speaker of the Interior administration.
The suspicion against the director of the police operations center was initially based on an anonymous letter. It was stated in the letter that Otto D. was a Scientologist. Shortly thereafter, this statement was verified by state intelligence. The police director was relieved of duties, and his office and his house were searched. The internal review is now supposed to throw some light on the investigation by the intelligence agency. Interior Senator Schonbohm would not apologize to the police director. He had always been presumed innocent, until the accusations would have been granted. Besides, he had made no public charges, therefore he said he does not have to apologize. The results of the review will not be published by the officials because it deals with an internal proceeding. CDU party chairman Klaus Landowsky has demanded an apology to Otto D. "The police director has a right to that," said Landowsky. In addition, the state intelligence proceedings will have to be explained in detail.
Editorial
How to make Scientology happy
From: "Sueddeutsche Zeitung"
July 24, 1998The unfounded suspicions against a Berlin policeman bounce back on state domestic intelligence.
by Jakob Augstein
For the last four months, Berlin police director Otto D. has been living an honest-to-God nightmare. He was accused without proof, and denounced without the possibility of defending himself. That is what can happen in Germany when state domestic intelligence has something against you. Now it turns out that Otto D. is not a Scientologist after all. Everything was a mistake. Sorry, Mr. D. That can happen sometimes. Is everything better again?
Nothing is better. Everyone has lost: the police, the administration, domestic intelligence, even Otto D. The mistake is a catastrophe for the Berlin state intelligence office. The observation of the Scientology sect, as decided last year by the states' secretaries of interior, was a welcome addition to the work load for state intelligence after the end of the Cold War. However, it has apparently not occurred to them that Scientology should be a topic of social dispute and not of undercover operations by state intelligence.
First failure: "Without anything in return," domestic intelligence paid 5,000 marks to an undercover man in the organization in order to receive confirmation of the suspicion against Otto D. The student then never appeared at the second meeting. Instead of that, a spiteful letter came from the Scientologists. It complained bitterly that a "religious community" was being persecuted in Germany. Second failure: the statement by another undercover agent that Otto D. had been seen at Scientology meetings must have been wrong. A three month investigation turned up no evidence whatsoever of D's contact [to Scientology].
However, the police also lost. The anonymous letter which started the whole proceedings against Mr. D. must have come out of their own ranks. It showed time and time again how capable someone in the Berlin police force could be. Their sheer size of about 30,000 strong, their strict, centralized organizational structure and their all-around West Berlin miserliness has created, for the capitol police, a rotten medium in which misuse of office, overstepping the bounds of the law, "mobbing" [personal intimidation] bloom. State Senator Jorg Schonbohm, who has been busy with skateboarders and graffiti sprayers, has not had time in this term to fight this human parasitism.
And then there is still Otto D. He is back to being director of the police operations center. His promotion, which had been delayed, will probably be made up for. But for four months he has had to fight for his credibility. He knows who his friends are now. In the CDU, where he has been a member for years, nobody lifted a finger to help him. Otto D. runs into mistrust no matter where he goes. He only has one last thing to say, "If I am lying, then I hope my son goes blind."
So everybody has lost. Everybody? No. There is one winner: the Scientologists. They are now rejoicing.
Police Scandal turns into Intelligence Agency Scandal
Commentary
Intelligence Agency Drops the Ball
Police Director Otto D. is not a ScientologistPolice Scandal turns into Intelligence Agency Scandal
From: "taz"
July 23, 1998by Bernhard Potter
State Administration: Allegations of Police Director's membership in Scientology unfounded. Contradicts previous information provided by Domestic Intelligence Agency. Domestic Intelligence is now being investigated.
The scandal concerning police director Otto D.'s alleged membership in Scientology has ended with a retraction by the state administration and domestic intelligence, as well as full reinstatement for the policeman. Yesterday the state administration conceded that there was no evidence of Otto D.'s membership in Scientology. State Senator Jorg Schonbohm (CDU) lifted the suspension of D. as director of the police operations center, and reinstated him back to his original duties. Both D. and Scientology have repeatedly contested the accusations of the administration and of domestic intelligence.
The state administration has now come around full circle with the reinstatement of the police director, and has placed the State Office for Domestic Intelligence (LfV - State Office of Constitutional Protection) in the center of controversy. After an anonymous letter which accused D. of being a member of Scientology, and as such, of having coerced co-workers, the policeman was relieved of duties in March. A search of his house by the state attorney's office yielded no evidence to support the allegation. The state administration based D.'s suspension on an "official testimony" by domestic intelligence. According to a report by the "Tagesspiegel," this testimony was based solely on "secret intelligence information" of an agent working undercover on Scientology who confirmed D.'s membership.
Now the LfV will pursue the investigation in a "security review" - and has, according to the state administration "come to the conclusion, after basic evaluation of all findings obtained, that the accusation brought against Police Director D. of his being a member of the Scientology organization cannot be proved." As the reviewing authority of the LfV, the state administration has announced an "intensive examination." A report on the "Otto D. affair" is supposed to be presented by the domestic intelligence agency to the house of representatives in the first session after the summer break.
As far as Enrique Riebet-Buse, Otto D.'s attorney, is concerned, the LfV's work is "in the best case, slipshod." He was surprised by the administration's retraction because the LfV, in a proceeding before administrative court against D.'s suspension, had already agreed to an inspection of documents by the attorneys. "Apparently the officials themselves recognized that the evidence was insufficient," said to Riebet-Buse.
The attempt to verify the suspicion against D. from a second source also met with failure by the intelligence agency. An informant was supposed to be recruited from the Berlin Scientology branch for 5,000 marks. He took the money, then said he was not prepared to cooperate. The only thing the administration achieved from the operation was another lawsuit: Scientology is suing in Berlin's administrative court in order that Scientologists will not be offered money for spying.
Commentary
by Bernhard Pötter
Dangerous Secret Agents
Look at it this way. You really do not have anything to fear from this police state. What the state administration and domestic intelligence were able to accomplish in the case of Otto D. was bankruptcy, breakdowns, and bad luck. Domestic intelligence appears to consist of officials who breakfast on our tax money while they read the paper and answer any inquiries with "no comment."
Unfortunately, the whole thing is not quite that harmless. The state administration and domestic intelligence apparently dug themselves deep in a hole of Scientology hysteria. The process opened with an anonymous letter. Otto D. was suspended from service on the basis of an anonymous source. If a journalist wrote an article on the basis of information this scanty, he would be called irresponsible. The secret agents are not tormented by these kind of problems. If information is wrong, they just get some more. In case of doubt, the results are then diametrically opposed to each other. If the state administration rejects all responsibility and announces an investigation, one thing is clear: the most that will happen is that there will be several less promotions in domestic intelligence. Real reform or even doing away with domestic intelligence will never enter the picture. In this example, it could be discussed whether the protection of the state would best be served by exorcizing the devil along with Beelzebub. What are we supposed to be afraid of from Scientology? Dark powers who uncontrollably spin their web, a secret and undemocratic influence on politics and society, hidden operations against helpless people - all that sounds like an activity profile of the State Office for Domestic Intelligence in the case of Otto D.
From:
http://www.welt.de/cgi-bin/out.pl?url=/regional/berlin/980723/0723b101.htm
Intelligence Agency
Drops the BallThe Case of Otto D.:
Intelligence Service could not prove suspicions of Scientology membership - Police Director Back in OfficeFrom: "Die Welt"
July 23, 1998by Stephan Haselberger and Thomas Holl
Disgrace for Berlin domestic intelligence: the secret agency has apparently unjustly accused police director Otto D. of being a member of the psycho- sect of Scientology. The evidence they presented could not stand the test of scrutiny. Gernot Piestert, the presiding police president, had to reinstate the 53 year old top official back to his position as director of police operations yesterday.
"After thorough evaluation of all findings and after weighing applicable constitutional basic law, the State Office for Constitutional Protection has now made the determination that the accusations brought against Police Director D. are not able to be proved," is how the state administration put it. However, the state official did not say that all suspicions were completely unfounded.
The evidence against D. was already lacking at the beginning of the whole affair. On March 20, an anonymous letter arrived at the offices of State Senator Jorg Schonbohm (CDU), Police President Hagen Saberschinsky and the police personnel board. In it, a writer with inside information accused the director of the police operations center of being a member of Scientology. He said he had met the director two years previously in the rooms of the Berlin Scientology Group, that D. belonged to an inner leadership circle, and had coerced him into keeping his knowledge about him and Scientology a secret.
The professionally prepared letter (no fingerprints, no saliva on the stamp) served as a basis for the state attorney to initiate a process to investigate the coercion of an unknown person. A short ten days after the arrival of the anonymous letter, domestic intelligence confirmed it with an official statement that "the police director is a member of the Scientology organization in Berlin." This was based on the statement of an undercover agent who is said to have identified the top policeman as a Scientologist. D. was released from duties in the operations center and his house was searched. The director, who also served as security commissioner for the Zehlendorf CDU, said he thought it was a plot which was designed to prevent his promotion to leading police director.
In April, under growing public pressure, Schonbohm assigned the domestic intelligence agency the task of verifying the suspicion through a second source. This undercover action ended in disaster. In June the Munich Scientology center triumphantly reported about the failure of the intelligence agency to recruit a 25 year old student as an informant for 5,000 marks.
The secret agency's misfortune will be taken up again after the summer break by a special committee. The committee will have to explain to the state administration how the "irresponsible work practices of the State Office of Constitutional Protection" were able to come about, said Renate Kunast, head of the Green faction. Schonbohm has already announced an "intensive investigation." Yesterday the nightmare was over for the police director's family. "This really took a load off my mind," said Mrs. D. "The children suffered the most. Somebody talked to my son in school about it. He came home and asked, 'Papa, what is a Scientologist?'"
Otto D. is now waiting on the final word from his superior. He says that Schonbohm reassured him on April 4 that he would be publicly reinstated if the accusation turned out not to be true. However, Schonbohm would only say yesterday, "that further public discussion would be detrimental, not just for police director D. and his family, and will therefore not be undertaken by the state department."
From:
http://www.berliner-morgenpost.de/bin/bm/e?u=/bm/inhalt/heute/berlin/story00.html
Police Director Otto D. is not a Scientologist
Domestic Intelligence Agency withdraws allegations that the director of police operations was a sect member
From: "Berliner Zeitung"
July 23, 1998by Frank Nordhausen
Scientology suspicion against Berlin Police Director Otto D. has been cleared.
On Wednesday the official was again assigned to his post as director of police operations.
As stated by the State Senate administration, the security review by the State Office for Constitutional Protection yielded "after thorough evaluation of all findings" that the allegations of Otto D.'s sect membership "could not be proved."
With that decision, the administration validated a report by the "Berliner Zeitung" which gave numerous indications which excluded, for practical purposes, the membership of Otto D. in the Scientology organization
With yesterday's denial, the state intelligence agency has retracted its "official testimony" from March.
In that testimony, the service gave credence to an anonymous letter in which the police director had been pointed out as part of the "leadership cadre" of the psycho-sect. The secret agency relied for its testimony on the statement of an undercover man and on a Scientology membership list, which contained Otto D.'s name. Otto D. had contested membership in Scientology, as had the sect itself.
The domestic intelligence agency could not provide solid proof for the career-damaging Scientology suspicion even after months. Apparently Scientology experts were first called in only several days ago.
The state administration added that the publicly raised complaints about the work practices of the intelligence service would be the "subject of an intensive examination," the results of which will be presented to the house of representatives after the summer break.
Neither the state administration nor the intelligence agency wanted to add anything to the matter yesterday in the surprising turn of events in the case of Otto D.
The Alliance/Green party leader, Renate Kunast, criticized the state senator's vacillation, "there is method to this madness." Now "all the cards have to be put on the table," so that the "errors of the trade" of the intelligence agency are uncovered and reparations are made for Otto D.'s personal damages.
Secrets in the Operations Center
Is Otto D., the Berlin police director, a Scientologist?
Doubt increases. Shadows fall upon Domestic intelligenceFrom: "Berliner Zeitung"
July 22, 1998by Frank Nordhausen and Michael Helberg
BERLIN, July 21. Nerves are frazzled. Anger permeates the air via the drumming of fingertips on the table. "I have upheld the letter of the law. I've performed the most difficult missions for this city - May Day, the Clinton visit, and so forth," says Otto D. "And so far, nobody has listened to me!" The 53 year old police director from Berlin feels like he has woken up in a Kafka novel. He has been accused without the chance of defending himself, and without a trace of real evidence. Otto D., who, until recently was the director of police operations and a valued security expert of the Berlin CDU, is suspected of being a Scientologist. ">
"If that were so, then the security politics of Berlin would be in big trouble," said Renate Kunast of the Green Party in the House of Representatives. "Not to mention what the sect could have skimmed off in the way of secret information." Today, Wednesday, City Senator Jorg Schonbohm is awaiting a report from Kuno Bose, his State Secretary, which is supposed to shed some light on the matter, which just gets more puzzling every day. Otto D. has steadfastly maintained for four months, "I am not a Scientologist - all accusations are completely made up." He said, "I am being treated as a leper."The Anonymous Letter
Otto D.'s nightmare began on March 20 of this year. On that day the city senator, the police director, the police personnel board and the "B.Z." newsletter received identical, anonymous letters. They stated that Otto D. had been a Scientology member "for about five years," and that he even belonged to the "inner management cadre" of the psycho- sect. The anonymous writer asserted that he himself had a "look into the innermost circle" of the sect, and recognized Otto D. He stated that the police director had threatened him with adverse professional measures in the event that he did not maintain his silence in regard to the director's "leading position in the organization." ">
Instead of throwing the letter into the trash, police management set their investigation machinery in motion. The reason for that was that the letter contained the accusation of coercion, a punishable act. On March 27, Police President Hagen Saberschinsky requested professional assistance from domestic intelligence, because the service had been observing the Scientologists in Berlin since June, 1997, using "intelligence gathering methods." They were especially proud of an undercover agent who had the run of the sect's building on Sponholz Street in Friedenau, and whose judgment is considered by them to be "absolutely dependable." This undercover agent identified Otto D.'s picture as one of the sect members whom he had often encountered at Scientology meetings. "> Since Otto D.'s name also appeared on a member list of Berlin Scientologists which had recently been "worked up" by the service, the intelligence agency sent an "official testimony" to the police president on March 31 which stated, "Police Director Otto D. ... is a member of the Scientology organization." That same day police were deployed to Otto D.'s home and his office at the Tempelhof airport to go over the premises and his computer with a fine-tooth comb. They did not find the least bit of evidence of Scientology, but found member lists of the police with whom Otto D. said that he had meetings about security politics with - "I had to invite the people somehow." "> Today the man with the golden finger ring is at a loss. Otto D., who made his way up into the leadership of the police and the Zehlendorf CDU world through his use of one-on-one relationships has been "provisionally released" from his old assignments. The upcoming promotion to Leading Police Director is on hold; his teaching assignment at the administration technical expert school has been deleted; his party friends turn their backs to him. "For four years I was one of his personal acquaintances," said Siegfried Grommek, the Leading Police Director from Sachsen, "and I never noticed anything about Otto D. that would have been suspect." Did the father of two lead a perfect double life which nobody ever suspected? "> "The whole thing seems a little bit fishy to me," said Tom Voltz, a former top Scientologist from Zurich. He thinks that it is "at least very unusual that no Scientology material was found, since members horde piles of the sect's printed matter. Voltz also wonders that the police director's name is not mentioned in any of the many Scientology publications in which course graduates are listed in order to validate their expense. "> It would be possible that Otto D. is an "influence" agent who was funneled into the government according to the instruction of sect founder L. Ron Hubbard, "Hit for the key spots by whatever means." "Those kind of people never show up on a list, though," notes Gunther Trager, former top Scientologists from Frankfurt am Main. "Such a person would never go into a normal org" - that is a branch for pedestrians such as the one on Sponholz Street in Berlin.Meager Findings
Trager's former cohort, Tom Voltz, said about the anonymous letter, "That was not written by an ex-Scientologist, because it does not use the right words." Instead of "Scientology Group Berlin," it would have been "Scientology Org," instead of "list of 200 questions" - "Oxford Personality Test." Besides that the letter does not give any details of Otto D.'s Scientology career path - such as which courses the police official is supposed to have taken. "Nothing adds up," said Voltz. ">
However that does not mean that the police director does not belong to the sect. Neither co-workers, friends, nor enemies of the police director have noticed a deep-seated personality change or a sudden need for money, as is typical for Scientologists. Nobody can recall trips by the official to Florida, Copenhagen or England, where the inner sect's "advanced training" is given. "That is where he would have to go, especially if he had been in for five years," said Voltz. "> If Otto D. is not a Scientologist, then what is behind everything? "A gigantic Scientology set-up" is always a possibility, according to Voltz. The sect would have fed the domestic intelligence agency with false information so that a police official picked at random would be targeted solely on the basis of suspicion created by an anonymous letter, written by themselves. The media would seize upon the case, and Scientology would deny the whole thing. Result: domestic intelligence and the city senator would be blamed; the affair could be dragged through the streets as a known example - "People are discriminated against in Germany because of a denunciation!" "> "That is completely irrelevant," says Otto D. as he continues to drum his fingertips on the table. He presumes an "intrigue from the police and other areas" are behind the anonymous denunciation. "It is a power play inside the police." His rise through the ranks had always been accompanied with envy and disfavor, he says, "I am of the opinion that somebody wanted me out of the police forefront, quickly." "> However, there are also tangible signs of this. "When Otto D. had to go, people were glad to see him go," emphasized a staff member from the operations center. Other colleagues assert that the police director had "no idea of how to lead people"; no top policeman is as little loved as Otto D. The police director brought special disfavor upon himself when he presented a concept in the realm of communications reform which ran contrary to almost all of those of his colleagues and the personnel board. He foresaw "work based on need such as in business": instead of the usual 12 hour shifts with comparable time off, an eight hour shift on a flexible schedule. He detected "regular hate" when he presented the project to police management, said Otto D. "> "There was strong displeasure [about that]," confirmed Hartmut Pech, the chairman of the personnel board of the Berlin police. Many colleagues who live in the suburbs of Berlin thought they would lose a lot of time driving back and forth; officers from the former People's Police were concerned that their take-home pay would suffer. This happened at the beginning of March, shortly before the anonymous letters were received. "> "Otto D. left a lot to be desired," stated Personnel Board Chief Hartmut Pech, "but I think this denunciation is intolerable, because the accused is not able to defend himself." One thing is certain. The anonymous letter writer carried out his deed in an extremely professional manner. There were no fingerprints on the envelope; there was no saliva on the stamp. Even the letter style could indicate a writer from the east side of Berlin, however, this could have been a perfidious trick of the anonymous letter writer to cover any trace of himself. "He knew the exact degree of attention that would be paid to a Scientology investigation," stated Otto D. He has his own suspicion of who it could be. For him the "case of Otto D." has long been "a case of domestic intelligence." "> In fact, the "findings" of domestic intelligence thus far appear to be meager - so meager that City Senator Schonbohm, two weeks after the raid on Otto D;, demanded a "second verification" to confirm the Scientology suspicion. Under pressure, the domestic intelligence agency addressed a Scientologist they had had under observation, who had graduated a "student" course of the sect in Berlin. Instead of delivering the information which was hoped for, the Scientologist cashed the check for 5,000 marks, and the sect publicly mocked the agency. They stated that, if you don't mind, please don't recruit our staff members, and by the way, Otto D. has never been a member.The Mysterious Member List
"Dilettantish and unprofessional," is how intelligence critic Erich Schmidt-Eenbohm from Bavaria described the proceedings of the spies. To that he added, "The undercover agent is the weakest means of intelligence gathering because these people are often of questionable character." In the meantime, Scientology has applied for a temporary restraining order to prevent the Berlin City administration from calling Otto D. a Scientologist. ">
A second mishap created serious doubts about the worth of the Scientology membership list on which Otto D.'s name appears. In early July, the domestic intelligence agency officially denied that the names of a judge and a teacher were on it. Prior to that, the Berlin Administrative Justice B. was suspected, as Otto D. had been, of a Scientology scandal, and he had asked help from City Senator Jorg Schonbohm. "Undercover agents also make mistakes," said a domestic intelligence staff member confidentially [of course]. Greens Representative Renate Kunast sees this proceeding as "an unbelievable scandal." "I ask myself whether Otto D.'s position has been maneuvered out of avarice until there was no turning back." "> This raises many questions. How long has the agency had the membership list of the Berlin Scientologists? Why had Otto D.'s security clearance not been reviewed in the past few years, and why is the review now drawing out for three months? And how is it that the anonymous letter writer is not being investigated? "> Criticism of the investigating officials is increasing, and not just among the police director's circle of friends. Wener Platzeck, CDU party chairman of the Zehlendorf District Parliament, in which Otto D. is also a member, rages angrily, "Apparently the findings are not good enough, otherwise he would have been suspended." The proceedings against the police director were given up in June, because there was no evidence that a crime had been committed. Otto D. has his own thoughts. "If this keeps up, the assertion that I am a Scientologist, then I will seek help from the public," he said.
Little information from state security
Police Director Otto D. is said to be a Scientologist - however many questions remained unanswered in information provided by the Office of Constitutional Protection.From: "DIE WELT"
June 19, 1998by Ralf Schuler
A plain door leads to room 348 on the fourth floor of the Prussian State Assembly building - sound-proof, no windows, protected from eavesdropping. Anything said here is to remain here. Unheard by a third party. He who wants to bring light into the gloom must first pull back into the receding darkness. Interior Secretary Kuno Bose (CDU) could hardly impart anything enlightening at the hearing of the Constitutional Protection Committee of the State Representatives. Whenever the conversation threatened to turn interesting, he would say, "We could talk about that in the secure room."
Whatever the representatives of the committee on Thursday heard before the protectors of the constitution behind the thick walls of the secure room, apparently at least one thing was made clear: Otto D., until March of this year still chief of the operations center of the police in Tempelhof, is, in all likelihood, a member of the Scientology organization. Possibly a leading member. The story remains as explosive as it does ominous. On March 20 of this year, an anonymous letter was delivered to Police President Hagen Saberschinsky, "Innen" Senator Jorg Schonbohm (CDU) and the police personnel board, in which D. was denounced as a leading Scientologist. The investigating officials presume that the writer of the letter was a police official since the letter itself was untraceable (no fingerprints, no saliva on stamp), and that the writer must have seen and recognized the operations center director on the psycho-group's premises.
The unknown author wrote that Otto D. had threatened him if he did not remain silent. This was the basis needed for the proceedings against D.: coercion of an unknown person. Several days later, on March 31, the Office of Constitutional Protection confirmed D.'s double life as a Scientologist. Otto D. contests everything against him. As a precautionary measure he has been transferred to a different post. He has complained about this transfer and, as a member of the Zehlendorf CDU, has asked his old party friends to testify, in vain, as to his personal integrity. Uncertainty in the face of conflicting information and affirmations has led to a changing perspective. This is an indication that the information from the Interior authorities is significant enough to offset the normally reciprocal party solidarity indigenous to the [Christian Democratic] Union. Perhaps fear has also come into play. As a long-time confidante of the Zehlendorf and Berlin CDU leadership, highly controversial incidents can put a person on the wrong channels. It is becoming lonelier for Otto D.; his police career appears to be over.
However, the situation of the Senator who controls his professional destiny is also precarious. As reported by the "Tagesspiegel," which did not give the source of its information, the Office of Constitutional Protection was apparently able to confirm D.'s membership with the help of a G-man inside the Scientology organization, yet investigative failures and unsuccessful background checks brought about the painful circumstance in which an externally originated letter revealed the double-life of the family father.
How did it come to pass that Otto D. had been accused on March 20, and only ten days later the Office of Constitutional Protection was able to produce a definitive confirmation? This was the question asked yesterday of the Interior Secretary by Renate Kunast, Buendnis/Green faction chief and rights expert, before the committee. Had the secret service already been investigating, but forgot to tell the Interior administration? If this were the case, what had been the reason for the expensive investigation by the state office? How was it that the last time Otto D. had had a security check performed on him was 1989, yet she, as a member of the Constitutional Protection committee, during the same time frame, had been investigated three times? Could it at least be concluded that the three known Scientologists in the police (Otto D., the writer of the anonymous letter and an earlier case) were the only ones [in the department]?
Piquant questions; answers in the secure room. If Kuno Bose could have answered with a resounding "no" to the question of whether or not there were more Scientologists in the civil service, then it would not have been a secret. The legal foundation for a repetition of a background check was created early this year. It would have been possible to have done an interim check when D. took over as director of operations central in 1995. [That was an] unfortunate oversight, interjected Bose. Kunast stated that his answer was "refreshing, in a general sort of way," even if it had been given behind closed doors. However, the primary concern was the rapid determination of the traffic of Scientologists in security related areas. There is not yet a legal precedent suited to keep known members of the organization away from sensitive posts. The true nature of Scientology is to be determined by surveillance by the Constitutional Protection Agency. That could take a while.
Scientology itself immediately and verbosely denied D.'s membership, thereby affording more doubt than reassurance. Extensive documentation on civil service positions and a list of leading colleagues with other data, including party affiliation, which were found at the police official's residence, do not seem to merely reflect D.'s bringing his work home with him, as he maintains. If the information of the Office of Constitutional Protection should turn out to be reliable, then the psycho-organization would have had, in D., an informant of invaluable worth in a sensitive position of the Berlin security apparatus. Could this have only been the tip of the figurative iceberg?
Scientologist in Operations Center of the Police?
Accusation against high official are being investigated.From "Berliner Zeitung"
Jun 19, 1998by Christine Richter
The possible membership of Otto D., a leading police director, in the Scientology organization is again being investigated. The investigations of the state district attorney's office have not yet been concluded, said Interior State Secretary Kuno Bose (CDU) on Thursday on the Constitutional Protection Committee of the house of representatives. The chief district attorney has indicated, however, that he would want to proceed in the investigation against the director of the operations center of the police.
According to information released by the State Secretary, Otto D. has been assigned to other duties after the accusation against him were made known at the end of March. Bose reported that on March 20, he had received an anonymous letter, in which it was asserted that Otto D. had been a member of the Scientology Organization (SO) for five years, and, for the past three years, had been a member of the "Management Cadre" ["Fuehrungskader"]. The state office for Constitutional Protection subsequently began investigations, and came to the conclusion on March 31 that Otto D. is a member of the Scientology Organization. The police director, member of the CDU and confidante of ex-Innensenator Dieter Heckelmann (CDU), contests the allegations. The SO also denied the allegations in a detailed assessment of the assertion that D. was a member of the organization. "I am surprised at the extent to which the Scientologists are going in order to dispute the membership of the police director," said Green representative, Renate Kunast on Thursday. One would not expect that the organization would blow its own agent's cover.
Bose did not want to publicly name details or numbers of other Scientologists in leading positions. To the exclusion of the public, the State Secretary then reported on the observations of Scientologists in Berlin in the so-called "secrets protection room."
Scientology Man recruited as Spy?
The sect claims the Office of Constitutional Protection wanted information about high-ranking policemen - the secret service is not saying anything
From: "DIE WELT"
June 10, 1998by ANDREAS BAUMANN
The Berlin Office of Constitutional Protection has apparently tried, in vain, to recruit a member of the Scientology sect as an informant. The 25 year old student revealed his secret service contact last weekend, Scientology Central stated yesterday in Munich. The Office of Constitutional Protection had mostly been interested in getting information about the leading Berlin policeman, Otto D., from the student.
The 53 year old Police director has been relieved of duties from his post as Chief of the Central Location (Lagezentrum) since the end of March, after an anonymous letter writer - apparently a subordinate - had accused him of being a Scientologist ("WELT" reported). D. is said to have put him under pressure to keep what he knew to himself. The police leader, who is also the CDU district representative in Zehlendorf, has emphatically denied these allegations. He sees himself as a victim of intrigue. Nevertheless, in the beginning of May, Otto D. received an official witness from police undercover: the Constitutional Protection Office, it said, had confirmed his membership in the sect "by secret service methods."
Scientology now claims that a Constitutional Protection agent, on April 16, approached the 25 year old student, a member of the staff of the sect office on 51 Sponholz street, in the train station. There is said to have been ten more subsequent meetings, in which the man was offered money for information on Scientology. On May 15 - weeks after the official witness - he said he was offered 5,000 marks for information about Otto D. The student would testify to this before a court, said a sect speaker.
The Office of Constitutional Protection did not wish to comment upon the even yesterday. "As a matter of course we do not talk about the use of the secret service," said official representative Eberhard Kruschke. The Office of Constitutional Protection has had Scientology under surveillance for a year, and maintains an information hotline [telephone number].
Johann Schmid-Drachmann, Otto D's attorney, rated the alleged secret service activity as an index, in his client's case, "that probably no evidence is at hand." Leaving him "in the soup" is apparently a political decision. Schmid-Drachmann represents D. in the administrative court, where he is suing against his release from duty at his lead position. "The prevailing judge will apply for an insight into the documents of the Constitutional Protection Office and of the police," according to the attorney. He reckons that Innensenator Jorg Schonbohm (CDU) will block the documents on the grounds that the "interests of the State of Berlin" would be disturbed. Meanwhile the State District Attorney's office is investigating an "unknown" in the state office for the Office of Constitutional Protection. Otto D. has initiated charges of slander. A proceeding against the police director is still pending for suspicion of coercion.
Anonymous letter is the only proof of membership in Scientology
From: "Berliner Morgenpost"
May 15, 1998by Walter Scharfenecker
Police Director Otto D. states that he is unjustly being labelled a member of the Scientology sect. Since Wednesday he may neither pursue his teaching assignment at the professional school for administration and legal rights nor at the police school. D. told the "Morgenpost" that he was also a lecturer for questions of police quick response and the use of quick response situations.
After the publication of the anonymous accusation he has to give up his leading position on the police board of directors, and take a different assignment.
D. and his attorney, Johann Schmid-Drachmann gave details to the "Berliner Morgenpost" of the documents presented by the state office for constitutional protection, which are supposed to prove that D. is a member of Scientology. These documents consist of a single sheet of paper. After stating his service grade, name, place and date of birth, it simple says that he is a member of the Scientology group of Berlin. That is followed by a signature of a staff member of the state office. At the top of this, in large letters, is "OFFICIAL TESTIMONY." That means that the state office, in the interest of protecting its source, will not name the source, not to the police, the district attorney, not even in court. Otto D. has something to say about that. "One has to ask the question as to whether a man's life's work can be destroyed on the basis of an anonymous letter, just because the Office of Constitutional Protection refuses to reveal any actual facts. That has nothing to do legal principles of the state." D. has lodged a formal complaint against the Office of Constitutional Protection staff member on charges of malevolent rumors.
Schmid-Drachmann fears, however, that the district attorney's office will have to close the case to protect the informant. The attorney and his client are both of the opinion that a conspiracy lies behind the accusations. For one thing, no fingerprints are on the anonymous letter. As Schmid-Drachmann says, the process will be discontinued in the upcoming weeks because of constraints. The letter writer has accused D. of incurring distress upon a member who was departing the sect.
The Administrative Court will, presumably, hear D's appeal to his present release from duties in August. A judge will also have to address the recompensation issue. D. should have been promoted to leading police director one year ago. This was delayed because of savings measures to the middle of 1998. Schmid-Drachmann states, "Independent of the question as to whether D. is or is not a member, what remains to be seen is that the sect is not categorized as constitutionally hostile. In either case, D. must be promoted."