ing house searches, and interrogating individuals or asking the police
or other government bodies to use these powers on its behalf. Unlike
the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation or the British MI5, the BfV
is a federal structure that shares powers and cooperates with but
exercises no direction over analogous offices (Landesämter) in each
of the German states. It is in turn responsible to the federal Interior
Ministry and, since 1978, is overseen by the Parliamentary Control
Commission of the Bundestag. With headquarters in Cologne and a
training school nearby, it was divided into eight major branches (later
reduced to six): organization and administration, central special ques-
tions and data processing, right-wing extremism, left-wing extrem-
ism, counterintelligence, security protection, foreign extremists, and
terrorism. Its initial staff of 50 grew to 1,600 in 1977 and then over
5,000 by 1989.
Problems plagued the agency from the outset. Backed by British
authorities but opposed by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, its first
head, Otto John, mysteriously appeared in East Berlin in 1954 and
set in motion one of the most perplexing cases of the Cold War.
Another BfV head, Hubert Schrübbers, was found to have had a
previous career in the Third Reich as a prosecutor of political crimes
and was dismissed after 17 years in office. Likewise damaging to
the BfV’s reputation were the vulkan Affair, the Traube Affair,
and the double agents Hansjoachim Tiedge and Klaus Kuron.
Nevertheless, the agency can take credit for unmasking Eastern bloc
operatives in each of the FRG’s major political parties, among them
Karlfranz Schmidt-Wittmack, Alfred Frenzel, Hannsheinz Porst,
Karl Wienand, and Günter Guillaume. Initiated in 1978, Operation
anmeldung proved to be an effective means of detecting Illegaler
(covert operatives), who had been dispatched in large numbers to the
FRG by the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit. Supporters of the
BfV contend that its early warning system has promoted the general
political stability of the FRG by the timely identification of extremist
parties and movements. See also CELLER LOCH; SCIENTOLOGY
ORGANIZATION.BUNDESAMT FÜR VERFASSUNGSSCHUTZ UND TERRORIS-
MUSBEKÄMPFUNG. See STAATSPOLIZEILICHER DIENST.56 • BUNDESAMT FÜR VERFASSUNGSSCHUTZ UND TERRORISMUSBEKÄMPFUNG