British Services Security Organisation (Germany)
The British Services Security Organisation (Germany) (BSSO (G)) was one of two British intelligence agencies based in Germany for much of the Cold War.
The BSSO was based at Rheindahlen. Nigel West described the organisation as MI5's regional office for Germany.[1] This seems to have been increasingly true over time. It was usually headed by an MI5 officer with staff seconded from the Ministry of Defence or locally-recruited Germans.[1]
The BSSO was responsible for maintaining the security of the British Army of the Rhine, protecting British military installations from Eastern Bloc infiltration and later from attacks by the Provisional IRA.[1]
The Director of BSSO (Germany) was a member of the Joint Intelligence Committee (Germany).[2]
The American equivalent of the BSSO was the 18th Military Intelligence Battalion.[3]
Contents
History
The BSSO originated in March 1954 as the new name for the existing British Forces Security Unit.[4]
In 1959, the Joint Intelligence Committee sought to reduce the cost of running BSSO. MI5 recommended an internal restructuring and a bigger role for itself. BSSO subsequently acquired a civilian rather than a military head for the first time. Staff numbers were reduced from 480 to 322 and some duties were passed to the German intelligence services. The Americans took over funding of the BSSO comint station at Hanover.[5]
In 1961, BSSO came under command of the C-in-C Germany, downgrading the priority of tasks from London.[6]
1968 reorganisation
In 1968, its intelligence element was detached to become the British Services Intelligence Unit (Germany) (BSIU (G)). Although officially defence intelligence organisations, the two units increasingly came under the influence of MI5 and MI6, respectively. BBSO (G) was reorganised under a seconded MI5 officer from London, who beefed up the organisation's Berlin branch. This proved difficult as the BSSO chose to rely on locally-recruited staff in order to remain 'clean' of any links with the German security apparatus.[7]
According to Thomas Henessey and Claire Thomas, John Jones was the MI5 officer who headed BSSO from 1968 until the early 1970s.[8]
Detente
Ian Cameron served as head of the Berlin Branch of the British Services Security Organisation (Germany) circa 1970-71. In September 1970 he wrote to John Jones warning that talks with Soviets could lead to a greater Soviet intelligence presence in West Berlin. In July 1971 he warned the Soviets had asked for an additional 81 officials and estimated at least 50 per cent would be intelligence officers.[9]
Structure and personnel
Heads of BSSO
- Denis Price 1956-1958
- John Jones C.1968-C.1972
BSSO Berlin
One of three liaison offices maintained as a link to the Bundesamt fur Verfassungschutz.[1] According to the Military Intelligence Museum, the Berlin BSSO closed in 1998.[10]
Heads of BSSO Berlin
- Ian Cameron c.1971
Berlin personnel
BSSO Bonn
One of three liaison offices maintained as a link to the Bundesamt fur Verfassungschutz.[1]
BSSO Cologne
One of three liaison offices maintained as a link to the Bundesamt fur Verfassungschutz.[1]
Miscellaneous personnel
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Nigel West, The A-Z of British Intelligence, Scarecrow Press, pp.69-70.
- ↑ JIC (Germany) Procedures in a Period of Tension and after the British Commanders in Chief take up their NATO commands and have left JHQ Rheindahlen, extract from National Archives file CAB 191/3, 23 May 1973.
- ↑ Royal Air Force Historical Society Journal, 23, 2001, p.48.
- ↑ The Joint Intelligence Committee and the German Question, 1947-61, Simon Case, Queen Mary, University of London, PhD thesis, p.174.
- ↑ The Joint Intelligence Committee and the German Question, 1947-61, Simon Case, Queen Mary, University of London, PhD thesis, p.239.
- ↑ The Joint Intelligence Committee and the German Question, 1947-61, Simon Case, Queen Mary, University of London, PhD thesis, p.239.
- ↑ Richard J. Aldrich, British intelligence, security and Western cooperation in Cold War Germany: The OstPolitik Years in Battleground Western Europe: intelligence operations in Germany and the Netherlands in the twentieth century, edited by Ben de Jong, Beatrice de Graaf, Wies Platje; Het Spinhuis, 2007, pp.134-135.
- ↑ Thomas Hennessey and Claire Thomas, Spooks: The Unofficial History of MI5 From the First Atom Spy to 7/7 1945-2009, Amberley Publishing, 2011.
- ↑ Extracts from National Archives file FCO 33/1546.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Exhibit of the Month, Military Intelligence Museum], accessed 11 August 2014.
