Command officer

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In German usage, a command officer is the non- technical term for a member of an intelligence service (full-time or full-time employee) who manages human sources ( V ‑ people ) in the field of human intelligence (HUMINT) , i.e. private individuals whose planned, long-term cooperation with one Intelligence service is not known to third parties (e.g. Section 9b (1), sentence 1 BVerfSchG ) The initiation (advertising) and management of sources can be done by one or more people. Contrary to the wording, the command officer does not have to be an officer . The term is used regardless of the status of the person ( soldier , civil servant , employee ).

Working method

The main task of the commanding officers is to instruct and train the agents under command, to give them orders, to pay them, to monitor their activities and to receive and forward messages (partly via couriers). He gives instructions to the agent, e.g. B. concern their safety and is their operations manager. Senior officers meet with their sources in neutral places, such as B. restaurants, and ask that the conversation be kept confidential. They ensure the security precautions for personal meetings and give the sources specific orders to obtain information that is particularly worthy of protection, e.g. B. Classified information or other state secrets . Numerous intelligence services conduct procurement operations directly from the service centers in their states. For this purpose, command officers travel abroad on short notice to meet sources there, or they meet their command officer in their home country. Alternatively, command officers are disguised and deployed to consular or diplomatic missions , press agencies or airlines . Your legend is, for example, that of a diplomat or journalist . In addition to managing sources, command officers can also openly collect information or assist with other intelligence operations.

Federal Republic of Germany

In the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), a command officer is referred to as a liaison leader , and his source is referred to as an intelligence connection . If, in addition to managing sources, he is also responsible for their advertising, he is called the initiator and liaison leader . In the Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( Federal Office , State Authorities and Military Counter-Intelligence Service ) the command officer is technically called V-Mann-Führer .

A liaison leader ("operator") in the BND requires comprehensive operational training, different language skills and soft skills such as intercultural competence and psychological sensitivity. Expertise in the area from which the source is intended to provide information is desirable. The training of liaison officers at the BND includes following people and shaking off persecutors, convincing potential sources of cooperation and securing communication, but also legal bases and documentation requirements. A liaison leader uses different identities over the years of his activity. For him, the safety of the sources is the top priority. The work in human source management (HUMINT) is referred to in the BND as "operational activity".

GDR

In the Ministry for State Security (MfS) of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) there were 12,000 to 13,000 command officers who led unofficial employees (IM) and officers on special operations (OibE). MfS command officers were also referred to as process managers or IM managers . Management officers were responsible for a region or institution, for certain groups of people or specific factual issues, and had to assess the security situation in their area of ​​responsibility. They were expected to safeguard “state security and social development” as a preventive measure, particularly through recruiting and using IMs. Suspicious persons were to be “processed” in “operational processes” or “operational identity checks”, and groups of persons with special powers had to be kept under control with security checks. In fulfilling their tasks, they should make use of the political-operational cooperation with other state and social institutions. The operationally active members of the MfS were officers.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Helmut Roewer , Stefan Schäfer, Matthias Uhl : Lexicon of secret services in the 20th century . Herbig, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-7766-2317-9 , pp. 155 .
  2. ↑ How do foreign intelligence services work? In: verfassungsschutz.de. Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution , accessed on November 15, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b "In 20 years I had ten identities." - Sebastian W. (57) on his time as liaison leader. In: Federal Intelligence Service . Retrieved November 15, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Answer of the federal government to the small question - State premiums for informants and the notification and tax liability. (PDF) In: German Bundestag . Retrieved November 15, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Hans Halter: Compressed air for Pullach . In: Der Spiegel . No. 5 , 2001, p. 40-42 ( online ).
  6. ↑ The V-Mann-Führer. In: Focus . 2013, accessed November 15, 2019 .
  7. ↑ What makes us special - intelligence services are allowed to do what others are forbidden: spying. In: Federal Intelligence Service . Retrieved November 15, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Helmut Müller-Enbergs : Command Officer . In: MfS-Lexikon. BStU , accessed on November 15, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Jens Gieseke: The full-time employees of the Ministry for State Security (=  anatomy of State Security - history, structure, methods ). 2nd Edition. BStU, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-942130-25-4 ( bstu.de [PDF]).