KOHL LEADS PROBE OF 'CATASTROPHIC' SPY CRISIS IN BONN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100610005-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 20, 2011
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: August 26, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/20 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100610005-2
ARTICLE APP _R 0
ON PAGE
WASHINGTON TIt4ES
26 August 1985
Kohl leads probe
of `catastrophic'
spy crisis in Bonn.
'
By Michael J. Bonafield
tHE vWSN~N6TON TiME3 FOREIGN SERVICE
GENEVA. Switzerland -Calling the
defection of one of West Germany's top coun-
terintelligence officers "catastrophic:'
Chancellor Helmut Kohl returned to Bonn
yesterday to personally take charge of afull-
scale review of the country's security ser-
vices.
Hans Neusel, a state secretary in the
Interior Ministry and the government's
chief spokesman in the affair, said imme-
diate steps have been taken to safeguard
West German agents in the East whose lives
may be in jeopard}t
Officials in Bonn say countermeasures
must be based on the assumption that Han-
Joachin Tiedge's flight to Communist East
Germany had betrayed the identities of
many West German agents operating in East
Germany and compromised the surveillance
of East German and Soviet spies in West
Germany.
The espionage scandal broadened when
federal investigators confirmed a secretary
in the office of West German President Rich-
ard von Weizsaecker was arrested Saturday
night.
According to information obtained by the
German Press Agency, the unidentified
woman was arrested on suspicion of spying
for East Germany; she had been under
observation for some time.
West German authorities, reeling under
recent apparent and conf firmed defections to
East Germany, "struck swiftly this time:' the
German Press Agency was told.
The woman's home was searched, but it
was not known whether incriminating evi-
dence was uncovered. The woman was
arrested, federal investigators said, when
she "stood out" in a check of personnel
records.
A spokesman in Karlsruhe said the
woman was not President von Weizsaecker's
private secretary, but he gave no further
details.
Three other Bonn secretaries were
expected to be arrested in the next few days,
according to "Der Koelner Express;' a
Cologne daily.
Ib repair the damage caused by the defec-
tion last week to East Germany of their top
counterintelligence officer, West German
officials have demanded the resignation of
his former boss.
Herbert Hellenbroich, President of the
Federal Intelligence Service, the agency
responsible for intelligence-gathering
activities abroad, will be asked to step down
in the coming week, officials told the
Sunday newspaper "Bild am Sonn-
tag:'
Sb'est German Interior Minister
E'riedrtch Zimmermann told the
newspaper he was "outraged" that
~[r. Hellenbroich had not informed
him a hat a security risk ;~Ir. Tiedge
had become. ~Ir. Hellenbroich, a y8-
}?ear-~~Id former classmate of Mr.
Tiedge who was promoted to head
the B\D this month, denied any
wrongdoing.
" [ ~~?arned Tiedge several times to
;top his drinking:' ~Ir. Hellenbroich
said. "But I couldn't transfer such a
weak-charactered man from such a
sensuive position, since it would
have put him in danger of doing
~umething impulsn?e such as going
~~~cr to the East:'
"Cm standing by what I did:' the
paper yuoted him as saying. "Had I
to dc~ it again. [would have done the
same. [will not offer my resigna-
tion "
Chancellor i;ohl. who returned to
the capital following aone-day meet-
ing in France with President Fran-
uns ~[itterrand, walled :~Ir. Tiedge's
defectwn "catastrophic:'
f'ranz Joseph Strauss, the Bavar-
ian chancellor and former federal
minister of defense, said dir.
I'ied~e's treachery and the disap-
pearance of three others, two of
them secretaries in key posts in
Bunn, were probably linked.
~ti'est German officials said bh-
l'icdge, iii, was the No. 3 man in the
t)ffice for the Protection of the Con-
sntunon ! Bl~'F), the agency respon-
sthle for directing intelligence
uperanuns against communist
agents in ~b'est Germany.
~[r. "f iedge worked for the B~'F for
ty years and is said to have had
access to information on Western
agents, including Americans, in the
East.
Some of those agents have been
hastily withdrawn for fear of expo-
sure, according to unconfirmed
reports.
"If Tiedge passes on all his
knowledge to the opponent secret
services;' Mr. Neusel told reporters
in Bonn, "this will mean massive
damage to West Germany's intelli-
gence work:'
In Washington, State Department
spokeswoman Anita Stockman said
that "there will be a damage assess-
ment among our NATO allies:'
Spokesman Charles Redman said
earlier that Washington would con-
sult with Bonn to "determine what
damage might ultimately have been
done to our interests:'
Sources in the United States
familiar with intelligence? work yes-
terday said Mr. Tiedge's apparent
defection would be roughly
equivalent to the head of counter-
intelligence for the U.S. Federal
Bureau of Investigation going to
work for the Soviets.
Such a penetration, they said,
would make it easier for the Soviets
to create and maintain a spy network
here, but have relatively little
impact on intelligence-sharing from
VATO or on U.S. agents abroad.
They said the impact of ~Ir.
Tiedge's switch will largely depend
on two factors: how long he has
worked for East Germany, and how
rightly the West Germans have
"compartmentalized" their intelli-
gence system. Given the number of
spy cases in Bonn in the past, they
said it is likely West German intel-
ligence operations are strictly com-
partmentalized, with its officers
informed only on a "need-to-know"
basis.
dir. Tiedge disappeared early last
week amid indications of a growing
spy scandal in Bonn.
Three weeks ago, Sonja
Lueneburg, a secretary to Econom-
ics Minister Martin Bangemann.
was reported missing. She is now
believed to be in East Germany.
Miss Lueneburg's disappearance
was followed by that of Ursula Rich-
Continued
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/20 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100610005-2
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/20 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100610005-2
ter, a longtime official to an East
European exile organization in
Bonn.
`:iss Fticitter vanished along with
a male friend, Lorenz Betzing, a
West German army messenger.
Previously. dir. Betzing has been
assigned to atop-secret government
bunker near Bonn that was designed
to serve as a command post in the
event of nuclear war.
They, too, are thought to have fled
to East Germany.
So far, there is no hard evidence
to prove that ~Ir. Tiedge's defection
is linked to the disappearances of the
other three, but the circumstantial
evidence is compelling.
Mr. Neusel revealed that Mr.
Tiedge had been in charge of the
search for Miss Richter, and it is now
widely believed that he tipped her
off to her impending arrest by secu-
rity officials.
iViiss Richter is suspected of hav-
ing been the control officer for a
number of East German agents
operating in Bonn.
The four defections in the past
three weeks appear to be the latest
coup for the Russian-born head of
East Germany's espionage appara-
tus, Gen. ;vlarcus Wolff.
According to intelligence sources,
it was Gen. Wolff who introduced the
idea that Bonn's hundreds of lonely,
unmarried secretaries. living in one-
roomapartments in West Germany's
rather boring capital, could be use-
ful agents if they were seduced by
attractive male suitors, provided, of
course. by the obliging East Ger-
mans.
Several years ago, an East Ger-
man defector estimated that more
than 50.000 communist agents were
operating inside Nest Germany. Of
that number, 3.000, many of them
women, were working in Bonn.
A source in ~~'ashington yesterday
said that Gen. ?'olff, who has spent
roughly two decades directing East
German intelligence efforts, makes
a fictional spymaster portrayed b}?
author John le Carte "look like a
rank amateur."
Rather than work for quick
results, Gen. Wolff "plays for the
long haul:' the source said.
Detailing how the East German
intelligence chief recruits secre-
taries, the source, who is familiar
with intelligence operations in Ger-
many, said that when a highly placed
secretary in Bonn breaks up with
her boyfriend, within a matter of
weeks she is likely to meet an
extremely handsome single man
who happens to share her main
interest, be it music, skiing, or any-
thing else.
Among dozens of secretary?spies
previously uncovered, one of the
most prominent was Leonore Suet-
terlin, who worked in the Foreign
Ministry
She was lured into espionage by a
Soviet KGB agent posing as a pho-
tographer. Before marrying her and
recruiting her into the KGB, he sent
her huge bouquets of roses for
months on end.
:Miss Suetterlin committed sui-
cide after being sentenced for trea-
son.
While the nature of the
relationship, if any, between ~Ir.
Tiedge and the three others remains
shrouded in mystery, ~Ir. Tiedge's
lifestyle and personal problems are.
and have been for some time, an
open book.
After the death of his wife in an
automobile accident three years ago,
~Ir. Tiedge's life began to unravel
under the burden of huge gambling
debts, an obvious and growing
drinking problem and the
difficulties of raising three teen-age
daughters.
His neighbors in Cologne, sister
city to Bonn, became irrttated by the
boisterous all-night parties he held,
and on many occasions reported the
disturbances to the police.
The morning after one such
recent affair, his housekeeper told
federal authorities that she found
documents stamped "top secret"
scattered around 1[r Tiedge s
apartment.
[ndeed, the Frankfw?ter .~IIKe-
meine reported that when serw?in'
officers entered ~L?. Tiedge's
apartment last Chursda~ they "dis-
co~ered hidden a~~a~? to ~'artous
places top-secret papers. many of
them in En(;Itsh, but they store not
certain if he took utptes tt'rth him to
the East."
Despite et tdence of serious prob-
lems mthe life of one of Its senior
counter-intellt~ence c,fficers. Kest
German authorutes did nothmQ
The ctrcumstances urrnundut,
the Tiedge defection hate united a
firestorm os crinctsrn tit the ~~'c,t
German press.
In an editorial entitled ".y top man
u ith a classical ~~cakncss:' ~luntch s
Suddeutsche "leitun~ asked: "Mutt rs
it possible, after tthat tt'as known
ahrntt ;J[r. ~Ciedcel. that no action
was taken% fherc aas more than
enou,h reason to remut'e this man
from his position, ~.et nothing +tas
done ..
Ute l,Velt ttas eten mote
utcredulous. ""Chc cu?cumstances rn
i ~[r. 1?icdge's I life are the best pusst-
ble situation in tehich spies are
recruited." [he newspaper
remarked.
"Even after a careful examination
of all his personal predicaments. rt
was decided not to transfer him" to
less sensitise position, Die ?'elt card.
Z
"This decision was made even
though the government knew about
the complaints that Tiedge often
didn't take care of the top-secret
documents entrusted to him.
"[n one case, he e'en forgot senst-
tive documents a hen he ?as u'accl-
mg in Bel,ium, and they had to he
flown bark to Bunn b~' special mes
sengec" the ne~~spaper said.
\ot e~"eryone behe~'es that he uas
a longtime went tin' the commu-
nists. however.
The Suddeutsche %eitung agree:
with [he go~'ernment that \[t
Tiedge's flight was "precipitate. the
action of a man with severe cmo-
uonal problems."
He was. the paper said in an edi-
tonal, "a troubled man who actrd . m
the spur of the moment."
Die Welt and the t?1?ankfurtcr :\il
gemei~e adopted a dectdcdl~ dim-
mer ~ iew. calling the defector an
"agent to place for mam' ~ carp "
Both newspapers have dernandcd
sweeping reforms in the securtt~
arrangements of the mtcllt~~wtcc
services.
~Ir. Zimmermann ha. been ,tint.
moved to appear hcfnrc Parlici-
ment's security conu?ol rnmmtttcc
tomorrow to deliver an .u.cs.,rnent
of the scandal and tt~ Imi~licanun~
Opposition Sucutl I)cmocr.,t
leader Hans-Jochen Vogel warned tit
yesterday's edition of Btld am ~ruur
tai that the government guild
expert some tough yuestiunut_ tit
Parliament.
"Demands for resignation, guild
well be made when tie have been
briefed nn the facts:' he .aid.
?'hatever he ttas - a c~'ntcal prr~
sessional. ur a desperate mam u;th
insoluble problems - `Ir 1'ICd~c
defection may serve to deflect >ontc
of the danger uF a mauu? pnl,nc,~l
crisis tilt JIr. Kuhl:, cunscrtatn~
a>aliuon eut'crnment
I-hr reason. most ?hx?rt rr, gat. ,.
that :py scandals hate hrenme a tart
of Itfe In Nest Germane in the Irt,t
~(1 Fears, and no ,rnernmcnt. loft ~n
rt,ht. has been immune to them
[n ly-~, for example. l hanrcll,n?
l\'iilt' Eirandt ~t'as tiu?ecd b. rc.un
after tine of ht. closest udt u~~r..
Gunter Guillaume, tt;rs dt~cutcrcd
u, he a u,luncl tit [hc F:a,f Gcrnt;ui
mtcllt_encc sect tcc. it htrh i. pcu t ~.t
the~ottetKBGapparatus-C~~I Gull
laume had held accts, to hip-.ecrct
documents of thr Bonn ~?cl ur /purr ~,rt
wiresen~tce rppurts.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/20 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100610005-2