Security group under scrutiny
01 January 1991
Security group under scrutiny
artdoc June=1992
Lothar Jachmann, second in command of the Bremen Landesamt fuer
Verfassungsschutz (LfV), a regional branch of the internal
security service, which employs some 75 personnel, claimed at a
seminar organized by the Green Party in Berlin on 27-29 March
1992 that counter-espionage was an anachronism. Jachmann, with
30 years experience in counter-terrorism and domestic security,
warned that the Verfassungsschutz would not live to see the year
2000 if it could not get its act together. This could have
serious consequences, for police authorities would be all too
willing to take over. `We already have to rap their knuckles
regularly to keep them out of the political intelligence field'
says Jachmann. He explained that the doctrine on leftist
extremism and terrorism has changed over the last three years.
The Verfassungsschutz no longer considers itself a part of the
investigation apparatus, but tries to offer political solutions
for what are now considered political problems. Jachmann
expressed surprise at the willingness with which politicians
permit the Verfassungsschutz to employ covert methods such as
infiltration that deeply penetrate the private sphere without any
legal regulations and safeguards, where relatively less harmful
techniques such as wiretapping come under strict rules. We have
to conclude, he said, that in the domain of leftist terrorism the
V-mann (infiltrator) method has led us nowhere. Jachmann also
expressed surprise at the resistance of many of his colleagues
to agree with a list of permitted intelligence methods and
techniques in legislation. `In my thirty years experience I have
not come across any really new means'. Also the Verfassungsschutz
should not have the virtual monopoly of definition it now has in
practice, by which it can label specific persons or groups as
enemies of the constitution.
When asked what the LfV Bremen achieved for ordinary people,
Jachmann claimed several recent successful operations against
Turkish intelligence (MIT) that was harassing immigrants and
their relatives back home. Several other seminar participants
then cited examples of `friendly' intelligence services behaving
in a hostile way. Renate Kuenast, who as an MP for Buendnis
90/Die Gruenen in Berlin is a member of the intelligence
oversight commission, added to this that in Berlin Mossad
operatives had recently been given access to Palestinians under
questioning in police custody.
Statewatch, vol 2, no 3, May-June 1992
Europe Germany