22-08-2019, 01:21 AM
Having finished the book on the book Verschlusssache by Udo Ulfkotte on the German BND, my takeaway was the following:
1. By comparison with the CIA, the German attitude toward their BND intelligence service was different. Ulfkotte states that there has been serious debate as to whether the BND earns its keep, whether it's worth the 700 million budgeted for it and whether the workforce should be reduced for better economy, or even abolished.
2. As far as things reported by Ulfkotte, the BND does not nor ever has perpetrated covert operations such as has always been done by our CIA.
3. The issues mostly worked on by the BND, especially in the 1980's and 1990's were Iranian bad actors and Iranian intel operations which the BND tried to foil.
4. At least in the 1990's the western intelligence agencies worked against each other on industrial espionage, especially the French SDECE against the BND. They were all trying to get access to the rival countries' military weapons technology.
5. The BND was mostly used to counter Russian Mafia activities, smugglers and dealers in stolen plutonium, shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, etc. and to some minor extent, international and Islamic terrorism.
6. The BND cooperated widely with the Israeli Mossad, especially in countering threatening behavior by the Egyptians.
7. There was a lot of worry about poison gas manufacturing by both Libya and Syria.
8. Iran vs Iraq issues were important, especially regarding Iranian missiles and weapons of mass destruction in the hands of either Iran, Iraq or both.
9. Ulfkotte quoted the 1975 US Senate testimony by John LeCarre, the novelist, who stated to Congress that he had worked for UK intelligence for three years and that one half of UK journalists at major outlets were intelligence assets.
10. Mostly, (to be perfectly frank), Ulfkotte's book was pretty boring when compared to juicy exposes about the Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy years. Not much to see here.
James Lateer
1. By comparison with the CIA, the German attitude toward their BND intelligence service was different. Ulfkotte states that there has been serious debate as to whether the BND earns its keep, whether it's worth the 700 million budgeted for it and whether the workforce should be reduced for better economy, or even abolished.
2. As far as things reported by Ulfkotte, the BND does not nor ever has perpetrated covert operations such as has always been done by our CIA.
3. The issues mostly worked on by the BND, especially in the 1980's and 1990's were Iranian bad actors and Iranian intel operations which the BND tried to foil.
4. At least in the 1990's the western intelligence agencies worked against each other on industrial espionage, especially the French SDECE against the BND. They were all trying to get access to the rival countries' military weapons technology.
5. The BND was mostly used to counter Russian Mafia activities, smugglers and dealers in stolen plutonium, shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, etc. and to some minor extent, international and Islamic terrorism.
6. The BND cooperated widely with the Israeli Mossad, especially in countering threatening behavior by the Egyptians.
7. There was a lot of worry about poison gas manufacturing by both Libya and Syria.
8. Iran vs Iraq issues were important, especially regarding Iranian missiles and weapons of mass destruction in the hands of either Iran, Iraq or both.
9. Ulfkotte quoted the 1975 US Senate testimony by John LeCarre, the novelist, who stated to Congress that he had worked for UK intelligence for three years and that one half of UK journalists at major outlets were intelligence assets.
10. Mostly, (to be perfectly frank), Ulfkotte's book was pretty boring when compared to juicy exposes about the Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy years. Not much to see here.
James Lateer