General Reconnaissance Administration (GDR)

The Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (German: Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung, or HVA) was the foreign intelligence service of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR, "East Germany") and was an integral part of the GDR Ministry of State Security, commonly known as the Stasi. After the Stasi was disbanded in 1990, its mode of operation was revealed to the public and the HVA was subjected to broad interest, as well as intensive research, which falls under the responsibilities of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records. The end of the HVA and the discovery of its internal structure, its methods and its employees was an exceptional event, which to date is unique in modern history, after World War II. The HVA is regarded as the most effective foreign intelligence service during the Cold War.

The primary mandate of the HVA was foreign reconnaissance (espionage), which included political, military, economic and technological intelligence-gathering. Among its other duties were activities against western intelligence agencies (by means of infiltrating their operations), preparing acts of sabotage, as well as the so-called "Active Measures" (distributing false intelligence) in the "Operational Sector Federal Republic of Germany", including West Berlin.

In the early 1980s, military espionage began to gain significance. The Soviet Union, the SED-led administration of the German Democratic Republic, and secretary of national security Erich Mielke expected paramount information in regard to the early discovery of Western war preparations from the HVA, in light of the rising tensions between the two Cold War superpowers.

Optimal conditions allowed the HVA to provide its eastern "sister services", especially the KGB, the greatest amount of intelligence flowing out of the Federal Republic of Germany, which was the most significant European NATO member. The KGB was headquartered in Berlin-Karlshorst, the Soviet Union's secret service was located in Potsdam-Babelsberg, and in addition, liaisons were present to each district administration. Successful operations against NATO headquarters in Brussels, as well as some other Western European states, such as Great Britain also contributed to the HVA's significance. In the United States, on the contrary, the HVA was never able to break any ground, as the KGB operated there almost exclusively. (The significant inroads in the GDR's reconnaissance on, for example, the NSA originated from personnel stationed in West Berlin.)

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