Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
 Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution  (Intelligence agency)    | |
|---|---|
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| Formation | 7 November 1950 |
| Parent organization | Germany/Ministry/Interior |
| Headquarters | Germany |
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (German: Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz or BfV) is the federal domestic intelligence agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungsschutz (LfV) at the state level, the office is tasked with intelligence-gathering on threats concerning the democratic order, the existence and security of the federation or one of its states, and the peaceful coexistence of peoples; with counter-intelligence; and with protective security and counter-sabotage.[1] The BfV reports to the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
Contents
Fake social media
In 2022, the Office revealed that it operates hundreds of fake social media accounts that are classified as right-wing extremists. "This is the future of information gathering," said an unnamed head of a relevant state office to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. According to research by the newspaper, the authority has invested heavily in "virtual agents" since 2019, which it finances with taxpayers' money. They also keep an eye on, and presumably also runs fake accounts, of left-wing extremist, Islamist and "conspiracy ideological" scene.
The employees of the Office are likely to conduct "propaganda" for this and sometimes also commit crimes such as "incitement to hatred". "In order to be really credible, it is not enough to share or like what others say, you also have to make statements yourself. That means that the agents also bully and agitate," says the report of an agent who claims to have come to the authority out of idealism. She wanted to "do something against right-wing extremists". Of course she encourages people in their worldview, but it's her job to "feed" the scene. There are now so many fake accounts operated by the authority that nationwide agreements are necessary. Otherwise, they could target each other.[2]
NSU affair
An event carried out
| Event | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
| "2022 German coup d'état plot" | Germany | After "The Storming of the Reichstag" in 2020, another attempt to overthrow the German government in 2022. |
Related Quotations
| Page | Quote | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bärbel Bohley | “The constant denunciation will come back. The constant lying will come back.
All these investigations, the in-depth research into the Stasi structures, the methods with which they worked and still work, all this will fall into the wrong hands. These structures will be studied in detail - and then they will be taken over. They will be adapted a little in the Federal Republic so that they fit in with a free Western society. They won't necessarily arrest the troublemakers either. There are more subtle ways of rendering someone useless. But the secret bans, the surveillance, the suspicion, the fear, the isolation and exclusion, the branding and muzzling of those who do not conform - that will come back, believe me. Institutions will be created that will work much more effectively, much more finely than the Stasi. The constant lying will also come back, the disinformation, the fog in which everything loses its contour.” | Bärbel Bohley | |
| Nancy Faeser | “Those who mock the state must have to deal with a strong state.” | Nancy Faeser | 13 February 2024 |
Event Planned
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celle Hole | 25 July 1978 | 25 July 1978 | Celle Lower Saxony | Prison escape organized by secret services, possibly to arrange a "shot while fleeing" |
Related Documents
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:Did German bungling lead to Pan Am 103? | Article | 24 September 1989 | Gavin Hewitt | The blunders of "Operation Autumn Leaves" didn't end with the case of Marwan Khreesat. One of those arrested in the 26 October 1988 sweep was a Palestinian by the name of "Ramzi Diab" which was not his real name, it turned out. That name had been taken from an Israeli passport stolen in Spain. The German police suspect he may actually have transported the Lockerbie bomb. |
| Document:The Deep State: Germany, Immigration, and the National Socialist Underground | Wikispooks Page | 11 September 2014 | Wildcat | Research on the NSU has shown that the intelligence services had the fascist terror organization under surveillance the whole time, without passing its information on to the police. It had many Confidential Informants (CIs) in leading positions in the fascist structures – or rather, the CIs even built up large parts of these structures. |
