Spies in from the dole

Press, 1 September 1982, Page 21

Spies in from the dole

Job-hunting West Germans are being tempted to become spies, for East Germany. According to the Federal Interior Ministry, the East German intelligence services have increased their use of an old technique, the monitoring of “jobs wanted" advertisements in West German newspapers. The main targets are former military personnel or people with a background in the arms industry. Engineers and technicians — particularly those who have worked in areas where high technology is involved — are also being approached, as are marketing specialists and businessmen who have been involved in importing or exporting. When an advertisement placed by such a person is seen by the East German Ministry for National - Defence, it writes — or more often telephones — with an offer of an interview. This is usually in East Berlin. The

approach purports to come from an engineering company. a market research organsation, a scientific institute; whatever seems appropriate to the background of the person concerned. The Interior Ministry gives as examples an economist who was offered a consultancy with the “Institute for Documentation and Analysis”; an engineer who referred in his advertisement to his army background in communications and electronics was contacted by a “technical bureau.” According to the ministry, all such organisations that have come to its attention are fictitious. The East Germans are also said to be contacting likely youngsters. For example. ’ one unemployed school leaver was offered an assignment by an "ecologist" in Potsdam “researching the likely effects of technology in the year 2000.” During any subsequent interview. the’ job seeker is

told that the organisation concerned wants freelance researchers in. West Germany: people to compile information from freely available sources such'as technical brochures from trade fairs. It is all very harmless, but can be quite, lucrative. With jobs in all fields becoming harder to get, it can appear attractive. ' Subtly, however, the assignments move into more sensitive areas until the stage is reached when the "institute” reveals itself as part of the East German Secret Service: if the person refuses to engage in outright espionage, he will be exposed to the West German authorities as an East German spy.

The intensification of the East German spying effort is worrying the Bonn Government, which has appealed to anyone who . has been contacted by any East German organisation to report it to the authorities. Anyone who

has accepted the "job" should do likewise, no matter how far he or she may have been compromised. According to the Interior Ministry, the domestic intelligence agency (the Office for the Protection of the Constitution) is not there to' prosecute citizens in trouble but ,to help them. It is an interesting change of line from past years. The ministry estimates that at any one time East Germany has about 10,000 agents operating in West Germany, and that no more than 15 per cent are ever uncovered.

In the division of labour within the Warsaw Pact secret services, the East Germans are considered to be responsible for gaining information on N.A.T.O. armaments, but any high technology that can be obtained is obviously welcome as well. — Copyright, London Observer Service.