Editing Federal Intelligence Service (section)

{{short description|Foreign intelligence agency of Germany}}
{{Distinguish|text=the [[Federal Intelligence Service (Switzerland)]]}}
{{Redirect|German Secret Service|other intelligence agencies in Germany|List of intelligence agencies of Germany}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox government agency
| agency_name     = Federal Intelligence Service
| nativename      = {{lang|de|Bundesnachrichtendienst}}
| nativename_a    = 
| nativename_r    = 
| logo            = Bnd adler wortbild wiki.svg
| logo_width      = 
| logo_caption    = Official logo
| image           = Zentrale des Bundesnachrichtendienst, Berlin.jpg
| image_size      = 
| image_caption   = [[Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service|BND headquarters in Berlin]]
| formed          = {{Start date and age|1956|4|1|df=y}}
| preceding1      = [[Gehlen Org#Gehlen Organisation|Gehlen Organization]]
| dissolved       = 
| superseding     = 
| jurisdiction    = [[Government of Germany]]
| headquarters    = [[Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service|BND headquarters]], [[Berlin]]
| employees       = 6,500 (2019)
| budget          = €1.08 billion<br />(US$1.3 billion) ([[Fiscal year|FY]]2021)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundeshaushalt.de/#/2020/soll/ausgaben/einzelplan/04.html|title=Bundeshaushalt|website=bundeshaushalt.de|access-date=25 January 2020}}</ref>
| minister1_name  = [[Thorsten Frei]]
| minister1_pfo   = [[Federal Minister for Special Affairs of Germany|Minister for Special Affairs]]
| chief1_name     = [[Bruno Kahl]]
| chief1_position = President
| chief2_name     = {{Interlanguage link|Philipp Wolff|de|Philipp Wolff (Beamter)}}
| chief2_position = Vice President for Core Tasks
| chief3_name     = {{Interlanguage link|Ole Diehl|de}}
| chief3_position = Vice President
| chief4_name     = [[Generalmajor|GenMaj]] {{Interlanguage link|Dag Baehr|de}}
| chief4_position = Vice President and Senior Officer
| parent_agency   = [[Federal Chancellery of Germany]]
| child1_agency   = 
| child2_agency   = 
| website         = [http://www.bnd.bund.de/EN/Home/home_node.html www.bnd.de]
| footnotes       = 
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}}
The '''Federal Intelligence Service''' ({{langx|de|Bundesnachrichtendienst}}, {{IPA|de|ˌbʊndəsˈnaːχʁɪçtnˌdiːnst|audio=De-Bundesnachrichtendienst.ogg|pron}}; '''BND''') is the foreign [[intelligence agency]] of [[Germany]], directly subordinate to the [[Federal Chancellery of Germany|Chancellor's Office]].<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Inside Germany s BND: The Federal Intelligence Service |journal=The Rosen Publishing Group}}</ref> The [[Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service|BND headquarters]] is located in central [[Berlin]]. The BND has 300 locations in Germany and foreign countries. In 2016, it employed around 6,500 people; 10% of them are military personnel who are formally employed by the Office for Military Sciences. The BND is the largest agency of the [[German Intelligence Community]].

The BND was founded during the [[Cold War]] in 1956 as the official foreign intelligence agency of [[West Germany]], which had recently joined [[NATO]], and in close cooperation with the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]. It was the successor to the earlier [[Gehlen Organization]], often known simply as "The Organization" or "The Org", a West German intelligence organization affiliated with the CIA whose existence had not been officially acknowledged. The most central figure in the BND's history was general [[Reinhard Gehlen]], the leader of the Gehlen Organization and later the founding president of the BND, who was regarded as "one of the most legendary Cold War spymasters."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Deane |first1=John R. |last2=Mason | first2= Jack C |year=2018 |title=Lessons in Leadership |publisher= University Press of Kentucky |chapter= Chapter 3 |isbn= 9780813174969}}</ref> From the early days of the Cold War the Gehlen Organization and later the BND had an intimate cooperation with the CIA, and often was the western intelligence community's only eyes and ears on the ground in the [[Eastern Bloc]]. The BND is also regarded as one of the best informed intelligence services in regards to the [[Middle East]] from the 1960s. The BND was quickly established as the western world's second largest intelligence agency, second only to the CIA.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2019/03/06/klaus-kinkel-high-profile-german-foreign-minister-reunification/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2019/03/06/klaus-kinkel-high-profile-german-foreign-minister-reunification/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Klaus Kinkel, high-profile German foreign minister after reunification, who had earlier led West Germany's intelligence agency – obituary|first=Telegraph|last=Obituaries|date=6 March 2019|via=www.telegraph.co.uk|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Both Russia and the Middle East remain important focuses of the BND's activities, in addition to [[violent non-state actor]]s.

The BND today acts as an [[early warning system]] to alert the German [[government]] to [[threat]]s to German interests from abroad. It depends heavily on [[Telephone tapping|wiretapping]] and [[Surveillance|electronic surveillance]] of [[international communication]]s. It collects and evaluates information on a variety of areas such as international non-state terrorism, weapons of mass destruction proliferation and illegal transfer of technology, [[organized crime]], weapons and drug trafficking, money laundering, illegal migration and [[information warfare]]. As Germany's only overseas intelligence service, the BND gathers both [[military]] and [[civilian|civil]] [[intelligence]]. While the {{Interlanguage link|Strategic Reconnaissance Command|2=de|3=Kommando Strategische Aufklärung|preserve=1}} (KSA) of the {{lang|de|[[Bundeswehr]]}} also fulfills this mission, it is not an intelligence service. There is close cooperation between the BND and the KSA.

The domestic [[secret service]] counterparts of the BND are the [[Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution]] (''{{lang|de|Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz}}'', or BfV) and 16 counterparts at the state level ''{{lang|de|Landesämter für Verfassungsschutz}}'' (State Offices for the Protection of the Constitution); there is also a separate military intelligence organisation, the [[Military Counterintelligence Service (Germany)|Military Counterintelligence Service]] (''{{lang|de|Militärischer Abschirmdienst}}'', or MAD).