The Origins of the BND: The Gehlen Organization: Process, Myth, and Legacy

Abstract:This article deconstructs the founding myth of the Bundesnachrichtendienst (the West German Federal Intelligence Service, abbreviated BND), which has commonly been understood as the outgrowth of a primordial "Organization Gehlen." Classified materials from the BND reveal instead that in the months after the end of World War II, a heterogeneous intelligence service of hundreds of operatives developed under the leadership of Abwehr officer Hermann Baun. It was financed lavishly by the US Army, but did not generate many successes. Although Reinhard Gehlen had little influence at first, he outmaneuvered Baun due to his absolute conformity with the USA. The highly unstructured organization with its dysfunctional operations carried on under Gehlen's willy-nilly leadership. Through targeted myth formation, and despite countervailing political pressure, Gehlen managed to evade tight parliamentary scrutiny of the internal workings of the nascent BND. This helps to explain why Gehlen's organization took on persons with a sometimes highly incriminating Nazi past.