2002 3 August: The Schröder government rejects possible partici-
pation in a U.S.-led coalition against the regime of Saddam
Hussein in Iraq. 1 December: Austrian intelligence undergoes
a major reorganization.
2003 The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency returns the Rosenholz
files to Germany. 10 April: The headquarters of the BND are
to be moved from Pullach to Berlin by 2011. 17 September:
The Militärischer Abschirmdienst receives authorization to
act abroad because of the increased number of German armed
forces on foreign assignment.
2004 BfV head Heinz Fromm protests the attempted recruitment
of German citizens by the Russian Federal Security Service.
23 June: Access to Stasi files is tightened following a legal
challenge by former chancellor Kohl. 13 July: Former BfV
chief Holger-Ludwig Pfahls is arrested in Paris on charges of
bribery and tax evasion.
2005 Germany’s highest court rules that Manfred Stolpe cannot be
called a Stasi informer. 22 November: Angela Merkel be-
comes the first female German chancellor and forms a grand
coalition government.
2006 7 April: A parliamentary inquiry is authorized regarding the
activities of the BND during the Iraq War.
2008 July: The BND mediates a prisoner exchange between Hez-
bollah and Israel.
2009 May: Karl-Heinz Kurras, the West Berlin policeman who
killed Benno Ohnesorg in 1967, is exposed as a former Stasi
agent.
xxiv • CHRONOLOGY