Secret services - Behind the Scenes of the Spies within BND
Rarer Glimpse Behind the Scenes of the German Foreign Intelligence Service: The Federal Intelligence Service (BND), is opening up more to the public and aims to increase acceptance for its work with greater transparency. For this reason, the visitor center of the German Foreign Intelligence Service in Berlin will soon be able to be visited without the previously required group registration, as BND President Bruno Kahl announced at the expansion's opening on Friday.
The visitor center is an essential part of our "Transparency, which we naturally also hope will yield a supplement of legitimacy, trust," said Kahl. We want to alleviate objections against the BND, foster understanding for its mission and methods, and present ourselves as a "competent, performance-strong, and reliable service provider for the Federal Government."
Coordinator of Intelligence Services: Too much Reticence Makes us Invisible
The coordinator of the German intelligence services in the Chancellery, Dagmar Busch, spoke about the tension between secrecy and presence in the public sphere: "Too much reticence and modesty harms us, makes us invisible." In the fight for budget funds, "invisibility and reticence are not always the best way."
The visitor center was inaugurated in November 2019. So far, only groups with at least 20 people have been able to enter, who had to register. Since the opening of the visitor center five years ago, several tens of thousands of citizens have been informed about tasks, topics, jurisdictions, methods, but also about the control of the BND, explained Kahl. Last year alone, there were around 14,000 visitors. The center is also part of the personnel recruitment of the BND - the service competes with financially powerful private companies in the search for specialists.
Priority Number One: Secrecy
For a Secret Service, whose spies prefer to work in the dark, and whose highest priorities are security and secrecy, the new openness is a challenge. The approximately two million euro visitor center is located at a corner of the massive BND headquarters in the heart of the capital. The complex is hermetically sealed, even employees only get to their workplaces through a scan of their veins.
For the parallel operation of the center with registered groups and spontaneous curious visitors, the secret services had to adapt their security concept. The entrance was relocated. For the control of visitors, there are now two security corridors with the latest technology instead of one. The BND even gave its visitor center its own house number: Chausseestraße 99a.
Nuclear Centrifuge, Backpack from Kabul, Damaged Tank Lid from Bucha
At the multimedia and interactive exhibition, it covers 400 square meters over two floors about terrorism, illegal migration, proliferation - the uncontrolled spread of mass destruction weapons-, the relationship between transparency and secrecy, information gathering.
In the exhibition, a gas ultracentrifuge for uranium enrichment, which is used, for example, in Iran for nuclear weapons production, can be seen. How the BND obtained the rare exhibit: Classified Information. An original backpack of a BND employee and an improvised explosive device from Afghanistan are also displayed.
Backpack of a BND employee from Kabul, Damaged Tank Lid from Bucha
Signs of the Russian attack on Ukraine can also be seen most recently: The BND displays the tank lid of a civilian vehicle from the Kiev suburb of Butcha - with bullet holes. This exhibit stands symbolically for the massacre that the Russians committed in that place at the time.
IS Coins from looted gold and silver reserves
Since the wedding of the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) in 2014, unusual exhibits have also been on display. The latest addition to the exhibition is a silver coin of the IS currency, which was minted by the terrorists. It is likely that the militia was able to produce coins from gold, silver, or copper using plundered reserves of national banks and cultural heritage.
The IS declared a "caliphate" in wide parts of Iraq and the neighboring civil war country Syria in the summer of 2014 and controlled the areas for years. Meanwhile, the extremists have lost their ruling territory. IS cells are still active in both countries.
New Openness: BND Club and Social Media Station
For the new openness, the service has set up a "BND Club" with a Social Media Station in the visitor center. There are also two vending machines where you can get souvenirs like a mug with BND logo.
However, the transparency of the spies has limits. Strict photographing ban still applies in the exhibition. Visitors are asked to turn off their mobile phones or at least put them in flight mode. How this is controlled? Classified information.
- The new visitor center of the BND in Berlin, announced by President Bruno Kahl, aims to increase acceptance and foster understanding, providing information about BND tasks, methods, and control.
- Dagmar Busch, coordinator of German intelligence services, emphasized the need for presence in the public sphere, stating that too much reticence can make them 'invisible.'
- The visitor center initially required group registrations, but Bruno Kahl announced that individual visitors would be able to visit without registration soon.
- In 2019, the visitor center was inaugurated, and the BND has already welcomed tens of thousands of visitors, with around 14,000 in the last year alone.
- The BND's new openness also includes a 'BND Club' and a Social Media Station in the visitor center for increased engagement and interaction.
- Despite the new openness, there are still strict photographing and mobile phone rules in the exhibition, controlled by 'classified information.'
