Spy chief replaced

Press, 30 August 1985, Page 6

Spy chief replaced

NZPA-Reuter Bonn West Germany’s chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, will appoint a new head of secret service today to repair damage caused to the intelligence services by the defection to East Germany of the top spy-hunter, Hans Joachim Tiedge, Government sources said.

An ambassador, HansGeorg , Wieck, is tipped to replace ' Heribert Herrenbroich, who has been sacked.

Mr Herrenbroich was ousted for retaining Mr Tiedge as chief of a department dealing with East German espionage while knowing he was a debt-ridden alcoholic, and for failing to

inform the Interior Ministry of the risk involved.

Mr Herrenbroich told West German television his dismissal was a bitter and painful experience but one he had to accept as a civil servant. He said earlier that he had kept Mr Tiedge in the job in spite of warnings from his staff because he believed his colleague would be in greater danger of defecting if he were transferred or suspended. East Germany said last week that Mr Tiedge had asked for political asylum. His defection followed the disappearance of two suspected spies from sensitive secretarial posts and an

Army messenger. They apparently fled to East Berlin. Security sources said that Mr Wieck, Bonn’s ambassador to N.A.T.0., is a polished diplomat highly regarded by Bonn’s allies.

Although his appointment may help restore confidence in West Germany’s intelli-gence-gathering apparatus, ripples from the scandal appeared to be spreading abroad with arrests of suspected East German agents in Switzerland and Britain.

Swiss police announced yesterday that they had seized a couple living in the canton of Lucerne on suspicion of being East German agents after receiving a West German tip-off.