Saturday, March 15, 2014
Council (Omni Shoreham)
When in 1963 a whistleblower, Werner Pätsch, revealed to the public that the German internal intelligence organization was using the Allied prerogative to wiretap national and international telephone lines in Germany, this came as a blow to the nascent Federal Republic. Termed the “CALLICAC flap” by CIA operatives in Germany, it seemed to reveal that the constitutional democracy in Germany was being undermined by precisely that institution that was supposed to protect its Constitution, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz. Additional information showed that former members of the Gestapo and the SS now in the employ of the Bundesamt had been instrumental in this blatant breach of German law, fueling concerns about a resurgence of a Nazi-mindset amongst the police and security institutions.
In my paper, I will discuss this so-called “wiretapping affair” both from a discursive and an institutional perspective. The paper will analyze how Allies and Germans in the face of this scandal tried to deal with the dilemma of continuing an effective intelligence organization and transnational cooperation while putting the genie of the Gestapo back into the bottle. By doing so, my paper will address of how the Cold War shaped the fundamental dichotomy between the right to privacy and the need for security.
