Intelligence agency established by the United States in West Germany after World War II, ostensibly to collect intelligence on the Soviet Union's military forces.
In July 1946, after a year of discussions with U.S. Army Intelligence officials in the United States, Reinhard Gehlen returned to West Germany to unearth intelligence files that he had buried there at the end of the war and to reassemble his staff, who had served in Foreign Armies East on the German General Staff.
The Gehlen Organization worked under the direction of the U.S. Army, which funded its staff and operations, provided equipment, and offered other assistance as needed. Its headquarters were established, from late 1947, on an estate in the village of Pullach, five miles south of Munich.
The group was able to "awaken" some of its sleepers in East Germany and the western Soviet Union, agents who had stayed behind when the Soviet armies rolled westward in 1944-1945.But mostly it collected intelligence from interrogations of East German refugees who had fled to the West and from spies who had been sent into the East.
The organization was not appreciated by all Allied officials: U.S. Army Gen. Arthur Trudeau called Gehlen's organization "that spooky Nazi outfit." But the U.S. Army was pleased with his efforts. Following the establishment of the U.S. CIA in 1947, three-way discussions began with the U.S. Army and Gehlen about the future sponsorship of the organization. Accordingly, on July 1, 1949, U.S. control of the organization passed to the CIA.
While most of Gehlen's intelligence operations were against East German and Soviet military targets, on one occasion his agency turned an NKVD officer.
The West German government was established on Sept. 12, 1949, but after preliminary discussions with the new government, Gehlen was forbidden from having anything further to do with it. However, a year later Gehlen met West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer, and a cordial relationship followed.
On May 5, 1955, West Germany became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and regained its sovereignty. Adenauer decided that the Gehlen Organization would become West Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst, or BND). The transmutation began on April 1, 1956, with the BND attached -- not subordinated -- to the chancellor's Office.
