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---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
alias:
- Agência Brasileira de Inteligência
- Agencia Brasileira de Inteligencia
- Brazilian Intelligence Agency
- Abin
tags:
- Organization
- Brazil
- Intelligence
- Surveillance
- AbinParalela
- JairBolsonaro
- TerrorgramCollective
summary: "Brazil's central intelligence agency, created by Law 9.883 of December 1999, whose Bolsonaro-era director and sitting leadership were indicted by the Federal Police in 2025 in the Abin paralela espionage inquiry."
start: 1999-12-07
location: "Brasília, Brazil"
created: 2026-09-24
updated: 2026-09-24
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Alexandre Ramagem]]"
reverse: true
role: "director-general"
fn: 3
- type: head_of
with: "[[Luiz Fernando Corrêa]]"
reverse: true
role: "director-general"
fn: 3
- type: investigated
with: "[[Polícia Federal]]"
reverse: true
role: "Abin paralela inquiry"
end: 2025-06-17
fn: 3
---
The Agência Brasileira de Inteligência (ABIN) is the central body of the Brazilian Intelligence System ([[Sistema Brasileiro de Inteligência]], SISBIN). Both were created by Law 9.883 of December 7, 1999, signed by President [[Fernando Henrique Cardoso]] and countersigned by [[Alberto Mendes Cardoso]], and published in the official gazette the following day.[^1]
### Law 9.883
The law defines intelligence as "the activity that aims at the obtaining, analysis and dissemination of knowledge within and outside the national territory" on facts and situations bearing on government decision-making and "the safeguarding and security of society and the State," and counterintelligence as "the activity that aims to neutralize adverse intelligence." Article 3 created ABIN as a body directly advising the President of the Republic which, "in the position of central body of the Brazilian Intelligence System, shall be responsible for planning, executing, coordinating, supervising and controlling the intelligence activities of the country"; a 2001 provisional measure, [[Medida Provisória 2.216-37|2.216-37]], redefined it as a body of the Presidency. Its intelligence activities are to be carried out, "as regards the limits of their extent and the use of secret techniques and means," with "unrestricted observance of individual rights and guarantees."[^1]
Under Article 4 ABIN is to "plan and execute actions, including secret ones," to obtain and analyze data for the President, to protect sensitive knowledge relating to the security of the state and society, and to "evaluate the threats, internal and external, to the constitutional order." The National Intelligence Policy set by the President is executed by ABIN "under the supervision of the Chamber of Foreign Relations and National Defense of the Council of Government." External control belongs to the legislature, through a body made up of the majority and minority leaders of the [[Chamber of Deputies of Brazil|Chamber of Deputies]] and the [[Federal Senate of Brazil|Federal Senate]] and the chairs of the foreign relations and national defense committees of both houses.[^1]
The agency is run by a director-general chosen and appointed by the President after approval by the Senate. Acts of ABIN whose publicity could compromise its secret activities are published only in extract, and a 2001 amendment provided that intelligence documents in its custody may be supplied to authorities only by the chief of the [[Gabinete de Segurança Institucional]] of the Presidency. The law absorbed into ABIN the technical intelligence unit then attached to the [[Casa Militar]] of the Presidency, with its posts, property and budget balances, and required the annual federal budget to carry, under a specific heading, the resources for "actions of a secret character."[^1]
### Terrorgram Reporting
In 2023 [[Michele Prado]], founder of the non-governmental organization [[Stop Hate Brasil]], submitted a report to ABIN and the [[Ministry of Justice and Public Security]] identifying [[Telegram]] channels linked to members of the [[Terrorgram Collective]] operating in Brazil, including channels linked to [[Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira]] and to the pseudonym "[[Wolf Boy Winter]]."[^2]
### Abin Paralela
On June 17, 2025, the [[Polícia Federal]] concluded its inquiry into an alleged espionage scheme set up inside ABIN during the government of [[Jair Bolsonaro]], known as the "Abin paralela," and sent it to the [[Supreme Federal Tribunal]] with a list of 36 people indicted. They included the city councilman [[Carlos Bolsonaro]] and the federal deputy [[Alexandre Ramagem]], who had been ABIN's director-general at the time, as well as the agency's sitting leadership under its director-general, [[Luiz Fernando Corrêa]]. The principal subject of the investigation was the use of ABIN to monitor public authorities illegally. According to the Federal Police, federal police officers and delegados seconded to ABIN, together with agency employees, took part in a criminal organization to carry out illegal espionage, and investigators found an operation to obtain confidential information on [[Paraguay|Paraguayan]] officials involved in negotiating the energy contract of the [[Itaipu Dam|Itaipu]] hydroelectric plant.[^3]
Ramagem did not comment on the indictment and had previously denied the scheme existed; Carlos Bolsonaro said the operation was politically motivated with an eye to the 2026 elections; ABIN declined to comment. Jair Bolsonaro was not indicted in this inquiry, because the Federal Police held that, having already been indicted for criminal organization in the case over the attempted coup, he could not be indicted again.[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Brazil. Lei nº 9.883, de 7 de dezembro de 1999. "Institui o Sistema Brasileiro de Inteligência, cria a Agência Brasileira de Inteligência - ABIN, e dá outras providências." Diário Oficial da União, December 8, 1999, as amended by Medida Provisória nº 2.216-37 of 2001. Presidência da República, Casa Civil. https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/l9883.htm. Quotations translated from the Portuguese.
[^2]: GNET (Global Network on Extremism and Technology). "Terrorgram and Youth Radicalisation: Understanding Brazil's Online Extremist Landscape," November 22, 2024. https://gnet-research.org/2024/11/22/terrorgram-and-youth-radicalisation-understanding-brazils-online-extremist-landscape/
[^3]: "PF indicia Carlos Bolsonaro e Ramagem no inquérito da 'Abin Paralela'." *Agência Brasil,* June 17, 2025, corrected June 18, 2025. https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/justica/noticia/2025-06/pf-indicia-carlos-bolsonaro-e-ramagem-no-inquerito-da-abin-paralela. Quotations translated from the Portuguese.

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---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
alias:
- Military Intelligence Directorate
- Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel)
- Agaf HaModi'in
- AMAN
- Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate
tags:
- Organization
- Israel
- Intelligence
- MilitaryIntelligence
- IDF
- Unit8200
- YomKippurWar
- AgranatCommission
- October7
summary: "The Israel Defense Forces' military intelligence directorate, established with the state, comprising Units 8200, 9900 and 504, whose director Aharon Haliva resigned in 2024 over the October 7 attack."
start: 1948
location: "Tel Aviv, Israel"
created: 2026-09-24
updated: 2026-09-24
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Aharon Haliva]]"
reverse: true
role: "director, resignation announced 2024-04-22"
fn: 5
- type: investigated
with: "[[Agranat Commission]]"
reverse: true
start: 1974
fn: 2
---
The Military Intelligence Directorate (Agaf HaModi'in, Aman) of the [[Israel Defense Forces]] is, in the IDF's description, "one of the oldest Directorates in the IDF. It was established as soon as the state of Israel was founded." Its stated mission is "to supply the government and IDF with intelligence warnings and alerts daily and during wartime to protect Israel from threats."[^1] It works alongside [[Mossad]] and [[Shin Bet]] among the intelligence services of [[Israel]].
### Structure
The directorate is made up of three main units, Unit 8200, [[Unit 9900]] and [[Unit 504]], "the biggest of which is the 8200 Unit, the Military Intelligence Directorate's main information gathering unit." [[Unit 8200]] develops and operates collection tools and analyzes and distributes what it gathers, and in wartime its soldiers join field headquarters. The IDF lists among the directorate's roles listening, which requires "a very high level of Arabic," selective translation of intercepted material, the interpretation of aerial imagery into maps, and the construction of secure computer terminals. The [[Intelligence Corps]] also includes the commando unit [[Sayeret Matkal]], which "is not part of any regional command; it only responds to orders from the Chief of General Staff." An IDF page dated December 29, 2021, named Major General [[Tamir Hayman]] as head of the directorate.[^1]
### The Agranat Commission
The [[Agranat Commission]] inquired into the conduct of the [[Yom Kippur War]] of October 1973. Its first, interim report, published on April 1, 1974, contained "some personal recommendations regarding senior IDF officers and the political echelon's responsibility," and institutional recommendations on "the conduct of the Government and the Intelligence Community"; two further reports followed. In the account of the Israeli Ministry of Defense archive, "most of the blame was cast upon the military." The government of [[Golda Meir]] resigned in April 1974 and was succeeded by a government under [[Yitzhak Rabin]], with [[Shimon Peres]] as defense minister; the chief of staff, [[David Elazar]], resigned and was replaced by [[Mordechai Gur]], and several other senior IDF officers were dismissed.[^2]
The report runs to seven volumes. In April 1994, after a petition to the [[Supreme Court of Israel|High Court of Justice]], the government allowed it to be read under conditions that included "non-disclosure of alertness and intelligence issues," and it was made public on January 1, 1995. Under Government Decision 3317 of February 27, 2005, a [[Engelard Commission|public commission]] of [[Yitzhak Engelard]], [[Moshe Vardi]] and [[Benyamin Amidror]] reviewed the classified parts; the whole final report was disclosed in 2006, save sections whose release might still harm state security or foreign relations, and the Engelard Commission went on to approve the release of fifty testimonies from the Agranat protocols. The reports have been open on the archive's website since February 2012.[^2]
### External Relations Department
[[Ari Ben-Menashe]] has said that he worked from 1977 to 1987 as a civilian in the directorate's External Relations Department, and has written that the department was created after the Agranat recommendations around an existing unit called Foreign Liaison. The Israeli government said that he had worked for military intelligence as a translator.[^3][^4]
### October 7
On April 22, 2024, the IDF announced that Major General [[Aharon Haliva]], "in coordination with the chief of the general staff, has requested to end his position, following his leadership responsibility as the head of the intelligence directorate for the events of October 7." With the approval of the defense minister, [[Yoav Gallant]], it was decided that he "will end his position and retire" from the army "once his successor is appointed in an orderly and professional process." Haliva, who had served 38 years, was the first senior Israeli official to take responsibility for failing to prevent the [[Hamas]] attack of October 7, 2023, in which more than 1,100 people were killed and about 240 taken captive. His resignation letter stated: "The intelligence directorate under my command did not live up to the task we were entrusted with. I carry that black day with me ever since, day after day, night after night. I will carry the horrible pain of the war with me forever." The analyst [[Yossi Mekelberg]] of [[Chatham House]] said the pressure on Haliva also stemmed from the failure to anticipate Iran's missile response to Israel's strike on its consular building in [[Damascus]].[^5]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Israel Defense Forces. "Military Intelligence Directorate." idf.il, page dated December 29, 2021. Archived at http://web.archive.org/web/20260919155745/https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/directorates/military-intelligence-directorate/military-intelligence-directorate/
[^2]: Israel Ministry of Defense, IDF and Defense Establishment Archive. "The 'Agranat Commission' Report." https://archives.mod.gov.il/sites/English/docs/agranat/Pages/AgranatReport.aspx
[^3]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network.* Sheridan Square Press, 1992.
[^4]: "Espionage: Con Man or Key to a Mystery?" *Time,* 1991. https://time.com/archive/6718038/espionage-con-man-or-key-to-a-mystery/
[^5]: "Israeli spy chief quits as pressure over October 7 failures rises." *Al Jazeera,* April 22, 2024. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/22/israels-military-intelligence-chief-resigns-over-october-7-attack

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---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Organization
- UnitedKingdom
- LawEnforcement
- CounterTerrorism
- Police
alias:
- CTP
- Counter Terrorism Policing South West
- Eastern Region Specialist Operation Unit Counter Terrorism Policing
- Counter-Terrorism Policing
summary: "National network of British police counter-terrorism units, with eleven regional units under a London headquarters, which investigated the 764, Fascist Forge and Feuerkrieg Division cases."
location: "London, United Kingdom"
created: 2026-09-24
updated: 2026-09-24
relations:
- type: funded
with: "[[Home Office]]"
reverse: true
start: 2016
role: "annual police funding settlement, 564 million pounds in 2016 to 1,212 million pounds in 2027"
fn: 3
- type: investigated
with: "[[Jacek Tchorzewski]]"
start: 2019-02-20
role: "Eastern regional unit, Schedule 7 stop at Luton Airport"
fn: 4
- type: investigated
with: "[[Harry Vaughan]]"
start: 2019-06-19
fn: 5
- type: investigated
with: "[[Feuerkrieg Division]]"
start: 2019-07
end: 2020-07-13
role: "arrest of the Cornwall cell leader; recommendation of proscription"
fn: 7
- type: investigated
with: "[[Ben John]]"
end: 2021-08-12
role: "East Midlands unit, eleven-month investigation"
fn: 8
- type: investigated
with: "[[Ashley Podsiad-Sharp]]"
end: 2023-08-31
fn: 9
- type: investigated
with: "[[Cameron Finnigan]]"
start: 2024-03
end: 2025-01-16
fn: 10
---
Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) is the network of police forces in the [[United Kingdom]] that investigates terrorism. It is not a statutory body. The [[National Police Chiefs' Council]] lists a "Section 22a agreement," a collaboration agreement under [[Police Act 1996|section 22A of the Police Act 1996]], among its pages on the network.[^1]
### Structure
"Around the UK there are eleven regional counter terrorism units (CTUs) and intelligence units (CTIUs), which collaborate daily to confront the threat from terrorism." At the centre is Counter Terrorism Policing Headquarters, which "devises policy and strategy, coordinates national projects and programmes, and provides a single national Counter Terrorism Policing voice," with an operations centre and a National CBRN Centre.[^2] The regional units and their forces are:[^2]
- CTP Scotland: [[Police Scotland]]
- CTP North East: West Yorkshire, Cleveland, Durham, Humberside, Northumbria, North Yorkshire and South Yorkshire
- CTP North West: Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Cumbria, the [[Isle of Man]], Lancashire and Merseyside
- CTP Wales: South Wales, Dyfed Powys, Gwent and North Wales
- CTP West Midlands: West Midlands, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and West Mercia
- CTP South West: Avon and Somerset, [[Devon and Cornwall Police|Devon and Cornwall]], Dorset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire
- CTP East Midlands: Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire
- CTP Eastern: Bedfordshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk
- CTP South East: Thames Valley, Hampshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex
- CTP London: the [[Metropolitan Police]] and the [[City of London Police]]
- Northern Ireland: the [[Police Service of Northern Ireland]]
### Funding
The [[Home Office]] funds the network through the annual police funding settlement. Counter-terrorism policing funding rose from 564 million pounds in the year ending March 31, 2016, to 1,160 million pounds in the year ending March 31, 2026, and is set at up to 1,212 million pounds, including counter-terrorism pensions, for the year ending March 31, 2027, an increase of 648 million pounds (114.9 percent) in nominal terms since 2016. The smallest annual increase, one million pounds, came in the year ending March 2018 and the largest, 132 million pounds, in the year ending March 2026.[^3]
### Cases
On February 20, 2019, officers of the Eastern region stopped [[Jacek Tchorzewski]], 18, at [[Luton Airport]] under Schedule 7 of the [[Terrorism Act 2000]] as he was about to board a flight to [[Poland]]. His telephone held terrorist manuals and bomb-making guides; he pleaded guilty at the [[Old Bailey]] to ten counts under section 58 of the act and was sentenced on September 20, 2019, to four years.[^4]
[[Harry Vaughan]], a student at [[Tiffin School]], was arrested on June 19, 2019, in a CTP investigation into [[Fascist Forge]], an online forum. He pleaded guilty to 14 terrorism offences and two counts of possessing indecent images and was sentenced at the Old Bailey in November 2020 by Mr Justice Sweeney to two years' detention suspended for two years.[^5]
In July 2019 Devon and Cornwall Police and CTP South West arrested a boy in [[Cornwall]] who had posted online about building a firearm. He was identified as the head of FKD_GB, the British cell of [[Feuerkrieg Division]], which he had joined at 14, and was sentenced at the Old Bailey in February 2021 to a 24-month youth rehabilitation order. The [[Crown Prosecution Service]] called him Britain's youngest terrorist.[^6] The Home Office, acting on CTP's recommendation, proscribed Feuerkrieg Division on July 13, 2020, with effect from July 17, by SI 2020/743.[^7]
[[Ben John]], a criminology student at [[De Montfort University]], was arrested after an eleven-month investigation by the East Midlands unit, which found a hard drive holding the Anarchy Cookbook, white supremacist and antisemitic literature, and material of the [[Order of Nine Angles]]. He was convicted at Leicester Crown Court on August 12, 2021, under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.[^8] [[Ashley Podsiad-Sharp]], a prison officer at [[HMP Armley]] in Leeds, was investigated by CTP, convicted at Sheffield Crown Court of possessing terrorist material, and sentenced on August 31, 2023, by Judge [[Jeremy Richardson KC]] to eight years' imprisonment and five years' extended licence.[^9]
CTP became aware of [[Cameron Finnigan]], a member of the [[764 Network|764]] network, in March 2024 through intelligence about his online activity. He was sentenced at the Old Bailey on January 16, 2025, by Mr Justice Jay to six years' imprisonment and three years' extended licence.[^10] CTP's statement on the sentencing described 764 as "an immense threat," with a "Satanic extremist" ideology and "militant accelerationist (extreme right wing)" characteristics.[^11]
### Footnotes
[^1]: National Police Chiefs' Council. "Counter Terrorism Policing," with navigation page "Section 22a agreement." Wayback Machine snapshot of January 26, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230126170736/https://www.npcc.police.uk/NationalPolicing/CounterTerrorism/CounterTerrorismPolicing.aspx
[^2]: Counter Terrorism Policing. "Our Network." https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/what-we-do/our-network/
[^3]: Home Office. "Police funding for England and Wales 2015 to 2027," statistical release, section 2.4.3, "Counter terrorism policing funding." https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-funding-for-england-and-wales-2015-to-2027/police-funding-for-england-and-wales-2015-to-2027
[^4]: Campaign Against Antisemitism. "Hitler-loving neo-Nazi who said it was his 'dream' to create a bloodbath arrested at Luton Airport and sentenced to four years." September 2019. https://antisemitism.org/hitler-loving-neo-nazi-who-said-it-was-his-dream-to-create-a-bloodbath-arrested-at-luton-airport-and-sentenced-to-four-years-in-prison
[^5]: ITV News London. "Teenage Satanist neo-Nazi avoids jail after admitting 14 terror offences." November 2, 2020. https://www.itv.com/news/london/2020-11-02/teenage-satanist-neo-nazi-harry-vaughan-sentenced-for-terror-offences
[^6]: Crown Prosecution Service. "Youngest British terrorist sentenced for neo-Nazi manuals stash." https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/youngest-british-terrorist-sentenced-neo-nazi-manuals-stash; Counter Terror Business. "Cornwall teenager sentenced for terrorism offences." February 2021. https://counterterrorbusiness.com/news/09022021/cornwall-teenager-sentenced-terrorism-offences
[^7]: The Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2020, SI 2020/743. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/743/article/2/made; Counter Terrorism Policing. "Feuerkrieg Division (FKD) proscribed as terrorist group." July 2020. https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/news/fkd-proscribed/
[^8]: Greatest Hits Radio (Lincolnshire). "Lincoln 'white supremacist' convicted of terrorism offence." August 2021. https://planetradio.co.uk/lincs-fm/local/news/lincoln-white-supremacist-convicted-of-terrorism-offence/
[^9]: R v Ashley Podsiad Sharp, sentencing remarks, Sheffield Crown Court, August 31, 2023, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/R-v-Ashley-Podsiad-Sharp.pdf
[^10]: R v Cameron Finnigan, sentencing remarks, Central Criminal Court, January 16, 2025, Mr Justice Jay. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/R-v-Finnigan.pdf; Sussex Police. "Man sentenced for terror offences." January 2025. https://www.sussex.police.uk/news/sussex/news/court-results/man-sentenced-for-terror-offences/
[^11]: Counter Terrorism Policing. "Cameron Finnigan Sentencing." LinkedIn, January 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/counter-terrorism-policing_cameron-finnigan-sentencing-activity-7285970499417849858-0K5p; Counter Terror Business. "'Satanist' teenager jailed for terrorism offences." January 17, 2025. https://counterterrorbusiness.com/news/17012025/satanist-teenager-jailed-terrorism-offences

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---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
alias:
- Dirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención
- Dirección de Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención
- Direccion de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevencion
- Disip
tags:
- Organization
- Venezuela
- Intelligence
- SecretPolice
- CubanExiles
- CubanaFlight455
- CORU
- CIA
- 1970s
summary: "Venezuela's political police and intelligence service from 1969, whose 1976 director was a Cuban exile and whose former demolitions chief, a CIA asset, was named in a warrant for the Cubana Flight 455 bombing."
start: 1969-03-19
location: "Caracas, Venezuela"
created: 2026-09-24
updated: 2026-09-24
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Orlando García Vásquez]]"
reverse: true
role: "director"
start: 1976
fn: 12
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Luis Posada Carriles]]"
reverse: true
role: "official in charge of demolitions"
end: 1974
fn: 3
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Ricardo Morales Navarrete]]"
reverse: true
role: "officer"
start: 1976
fn: 7
---
The Dirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención (DISIP) was the political police and intelligence service of [[Venezuela]], created on March 19, 1969, under the government of [[Rafael Caldera]].[^1]
### Origins
With the end of the dictatorship of the 1950s, the [[Seguridad Nacional]], the last integrated national police force, was dissolved, and the new police apparatus separated the investigation of crime from the security of the state. Criminal investigation went to the [[Cuerpo Técnico de Policía Judicial]]. State security went to the Dirección General de Policía ([[DIGEPOL]]), created in 1959 to hear "crimes against public order and the security of the nation." Under Caldera's policy of pacification, which brought guerrilla leaders back into legal politics, DIGEPOL, which "for ten years had been the protagonist of grave episodes in the struggle against the guerrillas," was replaced by the new DISIP. The new service was assigned "a preventive function with regard to intelligence and counterintelligence work, and repressive functions with regard to the order and security of the nation."[^1]
### Luis Posada Carriles
[[Luis Posada Carriles]], a Cuban exile who had joined the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s [[Brigade 2506]] in 1961, was recruited by the CIA while in the [[United States]] military between 1963 and 1965 and trained in demolitions. A CIA file search of June 1966 stated that he had "been of operational interest to this Agency since April 1965."[^2] A CIA Personal Record Questionnaire compiled on April 17, 1972, when Posada was a high-level official of DISIP in charge of demolitions, recorded reports that he had taken CIA explosives equipment to Venezuela and had ties to a Miami mafia figure, [[Lefty Rosenthal]], and listed "Bambi Carriles" among his aliases.[^3]
After the bombing of Cubana Flight 455, the CIA told the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] that it "had a relationship with one person whose name has been mentioned in connection with the reported bombing." The uncensored retransmission of that trace report described Posada as "a former agent of CIA," briefly terminated in the summer of 1967, reinstated that autumn, and kept on as an asset while a high-level DISIP official until 1974, with "occasional contact with him" continuing until June 1976.[^2] According to still-classified CIA documents cited in a later file review, the Agency assigned Posada the cryptonym AMCLEVE-15 in 1965, gave him "a new crypt CIFENCE-4" in 1972, and later referred to him as WKSCARLET-3, by then as an informant based in DISIP.[^4]
### The 1976 Leadership
In 1976 DISIP was directed by [[Orlando García Vásquez]], a Cuban exile. According to the journalists [[John Dinges]] and [[Saul Landau]], his deputy was [[Rafael Rivas Vásquez]] and Posada was chief of operations, and "all had received CIA training."[^5] [[Ricardo Morales Navarrete]], a Cuban exile and FBI informant, worked for DISIP in Caracas; according to [[Taylor Branch]] and [[Eugene Propper]], he headed Section D-54, its counterintelligence section, under the code name Comisario Moises.[^6][^7]
### Cubana Flight 455
On June 22, 1976, a CIA report titled "Possible Plans of Cuban Exile Extremists to Blow Up a Cubana Airliner" circulated advance intelligence of a plot against a Cubana aircraft. A CIA source later reported having heard Posada say, in late September 1976, "We are going to hit a Cuban airliner," and "Orlando has the details"; the [[State Department]]'s [[Bureau of Intelligence and Research]] relayed the remark to Secretary of State [[Henry Kissinger]] in a memorandum of October 18, 1976. The source was described in the CIA report as "a former Venezuelan government official" who "is usually a reliable reporter." The FBI's attaché in [[Caracas]] had multiple contacts with one of the two Venezuelans who placed the bomb and gave him a visa to the United States five days before the bombing.[^4][^8][^9]
On October 6, 1976, [[Cubana Flight 455 bombing|Cubana Flight 455]] exploded after takeoff from [[Barbados]], killing all 73 people aboard. The two Venezuelans arrested in Barbados, [[Freddy Lugo]] and [[Hernán Ricardo Lozano]], who traveled as José Vázquez García, both worked for Posada's private security firm in Caracas. On October 7, an FBI report from Venezuela recorded that a confidential source "all but admitted that Posada and [[Orlando Bosch|Bosch]] had engineered the bombing of the airline"; the passage that appears to describe DISIP arranging for Bosch and Posada to leave Caracas is censored in the released copy.[^10]
On November 2, 1976, the FBI reported the account of a source who had spoken with Morales. Morales described two meetings at which the bombing was planned, one at the [[Hotel Anauco Hilton]] in Caracas and another in his own room at the Hilton, both attended by Posada. He said "some people in the Venezuelan government are involved in this airplane bombing, and that if Posada Carriles talks, then Morales Navarrete and others in the Venezuelan government will 'go down the tube,'" and "if people start talking 'we'll have our own Watergate.'" He also said that after the plane went down, one of the men who had placed the bomb called Bosch and reported, "A bus with 73 dogs went off a cliff and all got killed."[^7] A Venezuelan judge issued arrest warrants for Posada, Bosch, Lugo and Ricardo; the FBI reported them on November 3.[^11]
### CORU
An FBI report of January 24, 1977, on the exile umbrella group [[CORU]], which had been founded at a meeting in [[Santo Domingo]] on June 11, 1976, attributed to García, "then head of the Venezuelan intelligence service, DISIP," orders for attacks meant to divert attention from the prosecution of Bosch and Posada in Caracas. García later lived in [[Miami]].[^12] An FBI overview of CORU dated August 16, 1978, described how Bosch had been met in Caracas on September 8, 1976, by Posada and other exiles, and a deal struck on what activities he could organize on Venezuelan soil.[^13]
Posada escaped from prison in Venezuela in September 1985 and went to [[El Salvador]], where, as "Ramon Medina," he worked under [[Felix Rodriguez]] on the [[Contras|contra]] resupply operation run by Lieutenant Colonel [[Oliver North]] of the [[National Security Council]].[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Núñez, Gilda. "Orígenes y desarrollo del aparato policial venezolano." *Politeia* 29, no. 37 (July-December 2006): 123-146, at 136-137 and 140-141. Universidad Central de Venezuela, Instituto de Estudios Políticos. https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/1700/170018238005.pdf. Quotations translated from the Spanish.
[^2]: Kornbluh, Peter, ed. "Luis Posada Carriles: The Declassified Record." National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 153, May 10, 2005, documents 2 (FBI, October 16, 1976, retransmission of CIA trace report), 3 (CIA, June 1966, file search on Luis "Pozada"), and 14. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm
[^3]: Central Intelligence Agency, Personal Record Questionnaire on Luis Posada Carriles, April 17, 1972. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 153, document 5. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm
[^4]: National Security Archive. "Bombing of Cuban Jetliner 40 Years Later." October 6, 2016. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/cuba/2016-10-06/bombing-cuban-jetliner-40-years-later
[^5]: Dinges, John, and Saul Landau. *Assassination on Embassy Row.* McGraw-Hill, 1980, p. 249.
[^6]: Branch, Taylor, and Eugene M. Propper. *Labyrinth.* Viking, 1982, pp. 101, 113.
[^7]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Intelligence Report, "Bombing of Cubana Airlines DC-8 Near Barbados, West Indies, October 6, 1976," November 2, 1976. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 153, document 10. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm
[^8]: National Security Archive. "Luis Posada Carriles: The Declassified Record," update of May 18, 2005, posting Central Intelligence Agency, report, "Possible Plans of Cuban Exile Extremists to Blow Up a Cubana Airliner," June 22, 1976; Federal Bureau of Investigation, "Unknown Subjects; Suspected Bombing of Cubana Airlines DC-8 Near Barbados, West Indies, October 6, 1976," October 9, 1976; and Department of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, memorandum, "Castro's Allegations," October 18, 1976. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm
[^9]: Kornbluh, Peter, ed. "The Posada File: Part II." National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 157, June 9, 2005. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB157/index.htm
[^10]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Intelligence Report, "Suspected Bombing of Cubana Airlines DC-8 Near Barbados," October 7, 1976. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 153, document 9. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm
[^11]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, cable, "Bombing of Cubana Airlines DC-8 Near Barbados, West Indies, October 6, 1976," November 3, 1976. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 153, document 11. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm
[^12]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Report, "Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations (CORU) Neutrality Matters - Cuba - (Anti-Castro)," January 24, 1977. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 153, document 12. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm
[^13]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Report, "Coordinacion de Organizaciones Revolucionarias Unidas (CORU), Neutrality Matters - Cuba - (Anti-Castro)," August 16, 1978. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 153, document 13. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm

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---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Organization
- EuropeanUnion
- LawEnforcement
- CounterTerrorism
- Europol
- ECTC
alias:
- European Counter Terrorism Centre
- ECTC
- European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation
summary: "European Union law enforcement agency in The Hague, governed by Regulation 2016/794, whose European Counter Terrorism Centre has supported national cases against the Terrorgram Collective, The Base and the Com network."
location: "The Hague, Netherlands"
created: 2026-09-24
updated: 2026-09-24
relations:
- type: member_of
with: "[[European Union]]"
start: 2017-05-01
role: "agency established by Regulation (EU) 2016/794"
fn: 1
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Project Compass]]"
start: 2025-01
role: "coordinator, through the European Counter Terrorism Centre"
fn: 5
- type: investigated
with: "[[Terrorgram Collective]]"
end: 2026-05-01
role: "support to Canadian and Danish investigations"
fn: 6
- type: investigated
with: "[[Jeremy Meilhac]]"
end: 2026-05-01
fn: 6
- type: investigated
with: "[[The Base]]"
start: 2025-11-25
role: "support to the Spanish National Police"
fn: 7
---
Europol, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, is the law enforcement agency of the [[European Union]]. Its present form rests on Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the [[European Parliament]] and the [[Council of the European Union|Council]] of May 11, 2016: "A European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) is hereby established with a view to supporting cooperation among law enforcement authorities in the Union." Under the same article, "Europol as established by this Regulation shall replace and succeed Europol as established by Decision 2009/371/JHA." The regulation applied from May 1, 2017, and provides that "Europol shall have its seat in [[The Hague]]."[^1]
### Governance
"The Management Board shall be composed of one representative from each Member State and one representative of the Commission," each with a vote, appointed "taking into account their knowledge of law enforcement cooperation" for renewable terms of four years. The board adopts, "by a majority of two-thirds of its members," the agency's multiannual programming, its annual work programme, and "the annual budget of Europol."[^1]
"The Executive Director shall manage Europol. He or she shall be accountable to the Management Board." The regulation provides that the Executive Director "shall be independent in the performance of his or her duties and shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government or any other body," and "shall be the legal representative of Europol." The Executive Director is responsible for "the day-to-day administration of Europol," for proposals on its internal structures, and for implementing the board's decisions, and does not vote on the board.[^1]
### Budget
Europol's statement of revenue and expenditure for 2024, as amended by amending budget No 3 of October 31, 2024, gave a grand total of 222,835,162 euros, up 390,000 euros from 222,445,162. Subsidies and contributions came to 217,529,505 euros. Staff expenditure under Title 1 totaled 123,122,980 euros.[^2]
### European Counter Terrorism Centre
The European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) was launched inside Europol on January 25, 2016, after the [[November 2015 Paris attacks|Paris attacks of 2015]], without new legislation. "The centre will focus on fighting foreign fighters, sharing intelligence and expertise on terrorism financing, online terrorist propaganda, among other areas."[^3] Europol lists it among its operational centres with the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), the European Serious and Organised Crime Centre, the European Financial and Economic Crime Centre, and the European Centre Against Migrant Smuggling.[^4]
The centre coordinates [[Project Compass]], an operation against [[The Com]] and its subgroup [[764 Network|764]] launched in January 2025. At its first announcement of results, on February 27, 2026, the operation had produced 30 arrests and the identification of 179 perpetrators and 62 victims, and four victims had been safeguarded, across 28 countries, among them the [[United States]], the [[United Kingdom]] and [[Canada]].[^5]
The ECTC supported the Canadian investigation of [[Matthew Althorpe]] and [[Kristopher Erik Nippak]] and the Danish investigation of [[Jeremy Meilhac]], members of the [[Terrorgram Collective]]. It identified Meilhac's [[Telegram]] profiles as among the most influential in the network and described his role as "central and active." Its press release of May 1, 2026, on his conviction noted that "over two dozen Terrorgram cases around the world" had been identified.[^6] On November 25, 2025, the General Commissariat of Information of the [[Spanish National Police]], supported by the ECTC, arrested three suspected members of [[The Base]] in [[Madrid]] and [[Valencia]] in a three-day operation with five house searches; investigators said they had been in contact with [[Rinaldo Nazzaro]].[^7]
A 2022 study by the [[International Centre for Counter-Terrorism]] quoted Europol: "*[[Siege]]* and Accelerationism, both with significant potential for inciting violence, were the most prominent ideologies in 2021, especially attracting young people radicalised online."[^8]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and replacing and repealing Council Decisions 2009/371/JHA, 2009/934/JHA, 2009/935/JHA, 2009/936/JHA and 2009/968/JHA, *Official Journal of the European Union,* articles 1, 10, 11, 16 and 63, consolidated text. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32016R0794
[^2]: "Statement of revenue and expenditure of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) for the financial year 2024, amending budget No 3," *Official Journal of the European Union,* C/2024/6148, October 31, 2024. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=OJ%3AC_202406148
[^3]: European Criminal Law Academic Network. "Europol's European Counter Terrorist Centre (ECTC) has been launched!" January 2016. https://www.eclan.eu/en/news/2016/1/europol-s-european-counter-terrorist-centre-ectc-has-been-launched
[^4]: Europol. "European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC)," site navigation. https://www.europol.europa.eu/about-europol/european-counter-terrorism-centre-ectc
[^5]: Europol. "Project Compass: First operational results against Com network." February 27, 2026. https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/project-compass-first-operational-results-against-com-network; BleepingComputer. "Police crackdown on The Com cybercrime gang leads to 30 arrests." https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/police-crackdown-on-the-com-cybercrime-gang-leads-to-30-arrests/
[^6]: Europol, European Counter Terrorism Centre. "'Terrorgram' network dealt another blow as member sentenced in Denmark." May 1, 2026. https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/terrorgram-network-dealt-another-blow-member-sentenced-in-denmark
[^7]: OCCRP. "Spain, With Europol Support, Disrupts Far-Right Terrorist Group 'The Base.'" November 25, 2025. https://www.occrp.org/en/news/spain-with-europol-support-disrupts-far-right-terrorist-group-the-base
[^8]: International Centre for Counter-Terrorism. "Siege Culture After Siege: Anatomy of a Neo-Nazi Terrorist Doctrine." 2022. https://icct.nl/sites/default/files/2022-12/siege-culture-neo-nazi-terrorist-doctrine.pdf

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---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
alias:
- Main Intelligence Directorate
- Main Intelligence Directorate (Russia)
- Glavnoye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravleniye
- Russian Military Intelligence
- Soviet Military Intelligence
tags:
- Organization
- Russia
- SovietUnion
- Intelligence
- MilitaryIntelligence
- ColdWar
- Cyber
- ElectionInterference
- Assassination
summary: "The military intelligence directorate of the Soviet and Russian General Staff, whose officers the United States indicted for the 2016 election hacks and the WhisperGate attack and Britain charged over the Salisbury poisoning."
location: "Moscow, Russia"
created: 2026-09-24
updated: 2026-09-24
relations:
- type: informant_for
with: "[[Robert Hanssen]]"
reverse: true
start: 1979
end: 1981
fn: 3
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
reverse: true
role: "indictment of twelve officers of Units 26165 and 74455"
start: 2018-07-13
fn: 1
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
reverse: true
role: "indictment of five officers of Unit 29155"
start: 2024-09-05
fn: 2
---
The GRU, the Main Intelligence Directorate, is the military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of [[Russia]], and before 1991 of the [[Soviet Union]].[^1][^2][^3]
### Robert Hanssen
In 1979 [[Robert Hanssen]], a special agent of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], delivered an anonymous package to a Soviet trade office in [[New York City|New York]] that served as a front for the GRU, revealing the identity of a GRU officer who was serving as an FBI informant. Over about two years he received roughly $21,000 in cash from the GRU.[^3]
### The 2016 Election
On July 13, 2018, a grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment presented by the [[Special Counsel]]'s Office charging twelve GRU officers, [[Viktor Netyksho]], [[Boris Antonov]], [[Dmitriy Badin]], [[Ivan Yermakov]], [[Aleksey Lukashev]], [[Sergey Morgachev]], [[Nikolay Kozachek]], [[Pavel Yershov]], [[Artem Malyshev]], [[Aleksandr Osadchuk]], [[Aleksey Potemkin]] and [[Anatoliy Kovalev]], "officials in [[Unit 26165]] and [[Unit 74455]] of the Russian government's Main Intelligence Directorate." Deputy Attorney General [[Rod Rosenstein]] announced the charges.[^1]
According to the indictment, officers of Unit 26165 began in 2016 to spearphish volunteers and employees of the presidential campaign of [[Hillary Clinton]], including its chairman, and through stolen credentials entered the networks of the [[Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee]] and the [[Democratic National Committee]], where they monitored the computers of dozens of employees and implanted hundreds of files of malicious code. Unit 26165 coordinated with Unit 74455 on releasing the stolen material. The officers registered [[DCLeaks|DCLeaks.com]], presented themselves as "American hacktivists," and promoted the site through fictitious [[Facebook]] and [[Twitter]] accounts. After public accusations that the Russian government was behind the intrusions they created the persona [[Guccifer 2.0]]; on the evening of June 15, 2016, between 4:19 and 4:56 PM, they used a Moscow-based server to search for English words and phrases that later appeared in Guccifer 2.0's first blog post, "falsely claiming to be a lone Romanian hacker." Unit 74455 also conspired to hack the computers of state boards of elections, secretaries of state, and companies that supplied election software. The operation was paid for with cryptocurrency, including bitcoin mining, and the same mining operation that paid for the DCLeaks.com registration funded the servers and domains of the spearphishing campaign.[^1]
The indictment contained eleven counts, including conspiracy against the [[United States]], aggravated identity theft, and a conspiracy to launder the equivalent of more than $95,000. The [[Department of Justice]] stated that there was no allegation that any American was a knowing participant or that the conduct altered the vote count.[^1]
### Salisbury
In March 2018 [[Sergei Skripal]] and his daughter [[Yulia Skripal|Yulia]] were poisoned in [[Salisbury]] with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia, known as [[Novichok]]. Two [[Wiltshire Police]] officers who searched their home were also poisoned. In July 2018 two members of the public in [[Amesbury]] were exposed to the same agent, and one of them, [[Dawn Sturgess]], died. On September 5, 2018, the [[Director of Public Prosecutions]] announced charges against two Russian nationals traveling as [[Alexander Petrov]] and [[Ruslan Boshirov]], and the Prime Minister, [[Theresa May]], announced that the government had concluded that the two men "were members of the Russian Military Intelligence Service, the GRU," and that the operation "was almost certainly approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state." Britain expelled 23 undeclared Russian intelligence officers, and 28 other countries and [[NATO]] joined in an expulsion of more than 150.[^4]
On September 21, 2021, the Home Secretary, [[Priti Patel]], told Parliament that the police could now evidence that Petrov and Boshirov were aliases for [[Alexander Mishkin]] and [[Anatoliy Chepiga]], "both members of the GRU," and that the [[Crown Prosecution Service]] had authorized charges against a third man, known as Sergey Fedotov, who had flown from Moscow to [[Heathrow Airport|Heathrow]], stayed at a central London hotel from March 2 to 4, 2018, and met the other two more than once. Fedotov was [[Denis Sergeev]], "also a member of the GRU," and "all 3 individuals previously worked together for the GRU as part of additional operations outside Russia." On the same day the [[European Court of Human Rights]] ruled that Russia was responsible for the assassination of [[Alexander Litvinenko]].[^4]
### [[Unit 29155]] and [[WhisperGate]]
On September 5, 2024, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment returned in [[Maryland]] against five officers of GRU Unit 29155 and one civilian, [[Amin Sitgal]]. The officers were Colonel [[Yuriy Denisov]], "a commanding officer of Cyber Operations for Unit 29155," and Lieutenants [[Vladislav Borovkov]], [[Denis Denisenko]], [[Dmitriy Goloshubov]] and [[Nikolay Korchagin]]. On January 13, 2022, according to the indictment, they used the services of a United States company to distribute the malware known as WhisperGate, "designed to look like ransomware," to dozens of Ukrainian government systems, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Treasury, the Judiciary Administration and the Ministry of Energy, when "WhisperGate was actually a cyberweapon designed to completely destroy the target computer and related data in advance of the Russian invasion of Ukraine." They exfiltrated data including patient health records, defaced websites to read "Ukrainians! All information about you has become public, be afraid and expect the worst," and offered the stolen data for sale the same day.[^2]
The same officers were charged with probing systems in 26 NATO countries from August 2021, with hacking the transportation infrastructure of a Central European country that supported [[Ukraine]] in October 2022, and with probing a federal government agency in Maryland from August 5, 2021, to February 3, 2022. Assistant Attorney General [[Matthew G. Olsen]] called the campaign "emblematic of Russia's abhorrent disregard for innocent civilians." The indictment was part of an international effort, [[Operation Toy Soldier]], accompanied by a joint cybersecurity advisory from the FBI and twelve partners representing nine countries, and the [[State Department]]'s [[Rewards for Justice]] program offered up to $10 million for information on the defendants.[^2]
### The Buma Allegation
In May 2025 [[Jonathan Buma]], a former FBI counterintelligence special agent of sixteen years, alleged in a documentary broadcast by the German broadcaster [[ZDF]] that the GRU had targeted [[Elon Musk]] for exploitation and offered him direct contact with [[Vladimir Putin]], and that Russian intelligence ran special operations to influence [[Silicon Valley]] executives such as Musk and [[Peter Thiel]], including gathering damaging information that could later be used as blackmail. "Musk's susceptibility to promiscuous women and drug use, particularly ketamine," Buma said, was "seen by Russian intelligence as an opportunity for an agent to exploit." Buma had been arrested in March 2025 and charged with one count of disclosure of confidential information for sharing material with a publishing company, and was free on $100,000 bail.[^5]
### Footnotes
[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. "Grand Jury Indicts 12 Russian Intelligence Officers for Hacking Offenses Related to the 2016 Election." Press release 18-923, July 13, 2018. Archived at http://web.archive.org/web/20200104195032/https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/grand-jury-indicts-12-russian-intelligence-officers-hacking-offenses-related-2016-election
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. "Five Russian GRU Officers and One Civilian Charged for Conspiring to Hack Ukrainian Government." Press release, September 5, 2024. Archived at http://web.archive.org/web/20250207071434/https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/five-russian-gru-officers-and-one-civilian-charged-conspiring-hack-ukrainian-government
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice. *United States v. Robert Philip Hanssen: Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint.* United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, February 2001.
[^4]: Patel, Priti, Home Secretary. "The new Salisbury charging decision." Oral statement to Parliament, Home Office, September 21, 2021. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-new-salisbury-charging-decision
[^5]: Pehlman, Nick. "Russian Intelligence Used Sex, Drugs to Target Elon Musk: Former FBI Agent." *Kyiv Post,* May 15, 2025. https://www.kyivpost.com/post/52742

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---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
alias:
- Geheime Staatspolizei
- Secret State Police
- Die Geheime Staatspolizei
tags:
- Organization
- NaziGermany
- SecretPolice
- RSHA
- ConcentrationCamps
- Holocaust
- NurembergTrials
- WorldWarII
summary: "Nazi Germany's political police, centralized under Heinrich Himmler by 1936 and made Office IV of the Reich Security Main Office in 1939, which sent prisoners to concentration camps without trial."
start: 1933
end: 1945
location: "Berlin, Germany"
created: 2026-09-24
updated: 2026-09-24
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Reinhard Heydrich]]"
reverse: true
role: "Chief of the Security Police"
start: 1936-06-26
fn: 2
- type: head_of
with: "[[Heinrich Müller]]"
reverse: true
role: "head of the Gestapo"
start: 1939
fn: 1
---
The Gestapo, an abbreviation of Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police), was the political police of [[Nazi Germany]]. Its mission was to "investigate and combat all attempts to threaten the state."[^1]
### Formation
Under the [[Weimar Republic]] most German states, among them [[Prussia]], [[Bavaria]] and [[Saxony]], had their own political police, bound by constitutional protections against arbitrary police action and concerned largely with political violence on the extreme right and left, including the [[Nazi Party]] and the [[Communist Party of Germany|Communist Party]]. After [[Adolf Hitler]] was appointed chancellor on January 30, 1933, the regime used emergency decrees to free the political police from those limits. The most important was the [[Reichstag Fire Decree]] of February 28, 1933, which "suspended individual rights and legal protections, such as the right to privacy," so that "police could now read private mail, secretly listen to telephone calls, and search homes without warrants."[^1]
The Gestapo was built from "the various political police forces of the several German Federal states which had been unified under the personal leadership of Himmler, with the assistance of Goering," that is, [[Hermann Göring]].[^2] By the end of 1936 the regime "had created a strong, centralized political police force under SS leader [[Heinrich Himmler]]."[^1] Himmler was appointed Chief of the German Police in the Ministry of the Interior on June 17, 1936, and by his decree of June 26, 1936, placed the Gestapo and the criminal police ([[Kripo]]) together in the [[Security Police]], under the command of [[Reinhard Heydrich]], who already headed the Sicherheitsdienst ([[Sicherheitsdienst|SD]]), the intelligence agency of the [[SS]] and, after June 4, 1934, of the whole Nazi Party. The [[Frontier Police]] came under Gestapo control in 1937.[^2]
A decree of September 27, 1939, united the offices under Heydrich as Chief of the Security Police and SD into the [[Reich Security Main Office]] (Reichssicherheitshauptamt, RSHA), at once a main office of the SS and an office of the Interior Ministry. Of its seven offices, Amt IV was "the head office of the Gestapo," Amt V that of the Criminal Police, and Amts III, VI and VII those of the SD inside Germany, outside Germany, and for ideological research. In November 1939 all officials of the Gestapo and Criminal Police were taken into the SS at equivalent ranks.[^2] [[Heinrich Müller]], a Munich policeman since 1919, became head of the Gestapo in 1939. Other agents came from the SD, "Nazi ideologues with little or no police training."[^1]
### Powers
A December 1934 law made criticism of the Nazi Party or regime illegal; a joke about Hitler could be treated as a "malicious attack against the state or the Party" and lead to arrest by the Gestapo, trial before a special court, and a concentration camp. "Most notably, the Gestapo had the power to send people directly to a concentration camp. This was called 'protective custody' (Schutzhaft)." Those so held could not consult a lawyer, appeal, or defend themselves in court, and the Gestapo used protective custody to override court decisions it considered too lenient. "As an institution, the Gestapo was not subject to legal or administrative oversight."[^1]
The Gestapo had limited personnel and relied heavily on denunciations from neighbors, colleagues and family members; "there was no widespread surveillance of the German population." Its officers regularly used intimidation and psychological and physical torture in interrogations.[^1] It did not administer the concentration camps, "but, acting through the RSHA, was responsible for the detention of political prisoners in those camps. Gestapo officials were usually responsible for the interrogation of political prisoners at the camps."[^2]
### Persecution of the Jews
After the [[Nuremberg Laws]] of 1935, Gestapo offices set up Jewish departments ([[Judenreferate]]) to investigate "race defilement" and to track Jewish emigration, ensuring that emigrants' assets remained behind for the state.[^1] Early on November 10, 1938, Heydrich telegraphed all Gestapo and SD offices with instructions for that night's pogroms, directing them to arrest as many Jews as the prisons could hold, "especially rich ones"; by November 11, 20,000 Jews had been arrested. A section of the Gestapo office of the RSHA under [[Adolf Eichmann]] handled Jewish matters, local Gestapo offices organized deportations to the East, and a detachment from Gestapo headquarters arranged the deportation of Jews from the Axis satellite states.[^2]
### War and Occupation
In the occupied territories the Gestapo, Kripo and SD formed local units of the Security Police and SD, and in operational areas they were joined into the [[Einsatzgruppen]] and [[Einsatzkommandos]], which "combined brutal measures for the pacification of the civilian population with the wholesale slaughter of Jews." Heydrich ordered incidents fabricated on the Polish-German frontier in 1939 to give Hitler a pretext to attack Poland, with Gestapo and SD personnel involved. The Security Police and SD shot hostages, imprisoned relatives, executed alleged saboteurs without trial, and enforced the "[[Nacht und Nebel]]" decrees. Gestapo offices in Germany supervised slave laborers, ran "work training camps," and late in the war arrested workers to supply the SS camps. Einsatzkommandos under local Gestapo direction screened Soviet prisoners of war and killed those classed as "intolerable," and under the "Bullet" decree of March 4, 1944, recaptured prisoners of war were taken secretly to [[Mauthausen]] and shot.[^2]
### Judgment
The International Military Tribunal found that the Gestapo and SD "were used for purposes which were criminal under the Charter involving the persecution and extermination of the Jews, brutalities and killings in concentration camps, excesses in the administration of occupied territories, the administration of the slave labour programme and the mistreatment and murder of prisoners of war." It named the defendant [[Ernst Kaltenbrunner]], Heydrich's successor as Chief of the Security Police and SD, as having used the organization for these purposes, and declared criminal all executive and administrative officials of Amt IV and all local Gestapo officials, including the Frontier Police, but not persons employed "for purely clerical, stenographic, janitorial or similar unofficial routine tasks."[^2]
### The Müller File
Under the [[Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act]] of 1998, the [[National Archives]] opened the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s name files on Hitler, [[Klaus Barbie]], Eichmann, [[Josef Mengele]], Müller and [[Kurt Waldheim]] on April 27, 2001, together with files on other individuals "with Nazi pasts who were used by the [[United States]], [[Soviet Union]], [[United Kingdom]], and other nations as intelligence resources," some of them involved in the [[Gehlen Organization]]. The release stated: "The CIA was unable to determine whether Gestapo Chief Heinrich Mueller survived the War, but strong evidence suggests he did not," and "The notion that Heinrich Mueller became an intelligence resource for the United States cannot survive careful scrutiny of the CIA's Mueller file."[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Gestapo." Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/gestapo
[^2]: International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg. "Judgment: The Accused Organizations." Avalon Project, Yale Law School. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/judorg.asp
[^3]: National Archives and Records Administration. "Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act Prompts Rare Release of CIA 'Name Files'." Press release nr01-61, April 27, 2001. https://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2001/nr01-61

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@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ category: "Foreign Government"
summary: "The Metropolitan Police (Met), also known as Scotland Yard, was the police force for London and the primary investigative body in multiple child abuse and trafficking cases documented across the network."
start: 1829
location: "London, United Kingdom"
alias:
- "Metropolitan Police Service"
---
The Metropolitan Police (Met), also known as Scotland Yard, was the police force for London and the primary investigative body in multiple child abuse and trafficking cases documented across the network. The Metropolitan Police raided the [[Elm Guest House]] in June 1982 after the suburban terrace townhouse was suspected of operating an illegal brothel. After the premises were raided, 23 men were detained among bedroom suites containing whips, chains, and ropes, and communal areas including a lounge bar, spa, sauna facility, and screening room for pornography. According to police sources, three of the guests were parliamentary ministers and a fourth was a member of the Queen's royal staff. Scotland Yard was expected to reopen files on the murder of one boy and the disappearance of another in connection with the investigation, but a Scotland Yard official described it as a routine investigation into a brothel. A source close to the investigation stated that top brass had ordered everything to be played down and that every attempt was being made to ensure the names of VIPs did not leak out.[^1]

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@ -6,24 +6,69 @@ tags:
- Canada
- LawEnforcement
- PROMIS
summary: "Canada's national police force, twice drawn into the PROMIS affair: by a mistaken 1991 software inventory and by its own 1999-2000 inquiry, Project Abbreviation."
- CounterTerrorism
alias:
- RCMP
summary: "Canada's national police force, whose Security Service gave way to CSIS in 1984, which ran the Project Abbreviation inquiry into PROMIS and now prosecutes members of 764 and Terrorgram."
location: "Ottawa, Canada"
created: 2025-08-05
updated: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-09-24
relations:
- type: investigated
with: "[[Patrik Jordan Mathews]]"
start: 2019
fn: 7
- type: investigated
with: "[[Kristopher Erik Nippak]]"
end: 2023-12-08
role: "eighteen-month investigation ending in arrest"
fn: 8
- type: investigated
with: "[[Jeffrey Roussel]]"
start: 2026-04-22
role: "arrest by the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team"
fn: 12
---
The [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police|RCMP]] is [[Canada]]'s national police force. It figures twice in the [[PROMIS Software Scandal]].
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is [[Canada]]'s national police force. The [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act]] provides: "There shall continue to be a police force for Canada, which shall consist of officers and other members and be known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police."[^1] It figures twice in the [[PROMIS Software Scandal]], and since 2023 it has brought terrorism charges against members of the [[Terrorgram Collective]] and the [[764 Network|764]] network.
### The Commissioner
"The Governor in Council may appoint an officer, to be known as the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, to hold office during pleasure, who, under the direction of the Minister, has the control and management of the Force and all matters connected with the Force." The Commissioner may delegate any power under the act to any member, "except the power to delegate under this subsection, the power to make rules under this Act" and certain powers over complaints. The Governor in Council may also, on the Minister's recommendation, designate an officer as Commanding Officer of each Division of the force "to hold office during pleasure."[^1]
### The Security Service
Until 1984 the force's Security Service carried out Canada's security intelligence work. The [[McDonald Commission]] (1977 to 1981) documented a pattern of illegal operations by the service against Quebec separatists, including barn-burnings, break-ins, the unauthorized opening of mail, and the theft of [[Parti Quebecois]] membership lists, and recommended that intelligence be separated from policing. The service was disbanded and its functions passed to the [[Canadian Security Intelligence Service]], created on June 21, 1984, with a [[Security Intelligence Review Committee]] to oversee it.[^2] The preamble of the CSIS Act reads: "Whereas the protection of Canada's national security and of the security of Canadians is a fundamental responsibility of the Government of Canada; Whereas it is essential, to discharge that responsibility, for Canada to have a civilian intelligence service."[^3]
### The 1991 Inventory
In November 1990 and January 1991 officials of the Department of Communications and the Canadian Workplace Automation Research Centre told [[Patricia Hamilton]] of [[INSLAW]] that [[PROMIS]] was running at "more than 900 locations" in the federal government, and one said the RCMP was among the users; an RCMP officer in [[Ottawa]] told her on February 1, 1991, that he knew of no PROMIS in the force. The officials later said they had confused INSLAW's product with a project-management package of the same name sold by the Strategic Software Planning Corporation of Cambridge, Massachusetts. On December 4, 1991, the Canadian ambassador wrote to the [[House Committee on the Judiciary]] that "the RCMP and CSIS report they do not use any case management software," a letter the committee called "conclusory." The [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s review of 1994 concluded that the Canadian "PROMIS" was "a totally different program developed by a different company."[^1]
In November 1990 and January 1991 officials of the Department of Communications and the Canadian Workplace Automation Research Centre told [[Patricia Hamilton]] of [[INSLAW]] that [[PROMIS]] was running at "more than 900 locations" in the federal government, and one said the RCMP was among the users; an RCMP officer in [[Ottawa]] told her on February 1, 1991, that he knew of no PROMIS in the force. The officials later said they had confused INSLAW's product with a project-management package of the same name sold by the Strategic Software Planning Corporation of Cambridge, Massachusetts. On December 4, 1991, the Canadian ambassador wrote to the [[House Committee on the Judiciary]] that "the RCMP and CSIS report they do not use any case management software," a letter the committee called "conclusory." The [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s review of 1994 concluded that the Canadian "PROMIS" was "a totally different program developed by a different company."[^4]
### Project Abbreviation
In 1999 and 2000 the force ran its own national security inquiry, [[Project Abbreviation]], under [[Sean McDade]], an Ottawa-Carleton regional police officer on secondment, into whether software used by Canadian agencies was a version of PROMIS with a hidden access point for American and Israeli intelligence. When the *Toronto Star* disclosed it on August 25, 2000, Sergeant Marc Richer said, "I cannot either confirm or deny what you're looking into"; Staff Sergeant Mike Gaudet said the next day that it had been under way "for some time" and had found "absolutely nothing to indicate that national security has been compromised in any way." On September 16, 2000, Gaudet announced its end: "We're saying today that we do not have Promis software."[^2] The account of the inquiry from McDade's side, including a meeting of allied intelligence chiefs at [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos]] in December 1999 and his belief that he had been targeted by [[ECHELON]], comes from [[Cheri Seymour]].[^3]
In 1999 and 2000 the force ran its own national security inquiry, [[Project Abbreviation]], under [[Sean McDade]], an Ottawa-Carleton regional police officer on secondment, into whether software used by Canadian agencies was a version of PROMIS with a hidden access point for American and Israeli intelligence. When the *Toronto Star* disclosed it on August 25, 2000, Sergeant Marc Richer said, "I cannot either confirm or deny what you're looking into"; Staff Sergeant Mike Gaudet said the next day that it had been under way "for some time" and had found "absolutely nothing to indicate that national security has been compromised in any way." On September 16, 2000, Gaudet announced its end: "We're saying today that we do not have Promis software."[^5] The account of the inquiry from McDade's side, including a meeting of allied intelligence chiefs at [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos]] in December 1999 and his belief that he had been targeted by [[ECHELON]], comes from [[Cheri Seymour]].[^6]
### Extremist Networks
In the spring of 2019 Canadian border agents stopped the vehicle of [[Patrik Jordan Mathews]], a reservist from [[Manitoba]], found racist material, and notified the RCMP. When he disappeared in mid-August 2019, after the journalist [[Ben Makuch]] had identified him as a member of [[The Base]], the force opened a missing persons investigation and ran its own extremism investigation.[^7]
On December 8, 2023, after an eighteen-month investigation covering alleged offences from April 2018, the force arrested [[Matthew Althorpe]] of Thorold and [[Kristopher Erik Nippak]] of [[East York, Ontario]], and charged Nippak with participation in the activities of a terrorist group for propaganda videos for [[Atomwaffen Division]] and manifestos for the Terrorgram Collective.[^8] In May 2025 and again in October 2025 it arrested an [[Edmonton]]-area youth of 15 for terrorism offences linked to [[The Com]] and 764.[^9]
On December 10, 2025, the Minister of Public Safety, [[Gary Anandasangaree]], added 764, the [[Maniac Murder Cult]], the Terrorgram Collective and the Mozambique branch of the [[Islamic State]] to the list of terrorist entities under the [[Criminal Code of Canada|Criminal Code]], bringing the list to 90. "Canada is the first country to list 764 as a terrorist entity." The minister said: "By listing these groups, we have more powerful and effective tools to take action and thwart their efforts to incite violence and promote hate." Under the listing, "all property owned by these groups in Canada must be frozen and reported to CSIS or the RCMP."[^10] The government's backgrounder described 764 as "a decentralized transnational network of online nihilistic violent extremists" whose members "use various social media and gaming platforms, particularly those with young and marginalized user bases, to lure, groom, and extort youth to commit violent and sexual acts, including self-harm." A review of 18 entities listed earlier kept 17, among them Atomwaffen Division, the [[Proud Boys]], the [[Russian Imperial Movement]] and The Base, and removed [[Hayat Tahrir al-Sham]].[^11]
On April 22, 2026, the force's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team arrested [[Jeffrey Roussel]] of the [[Quebec City]] area on three terrorism charges for running a [[Telegram]] group that promoted 764. The RCMP's release cited the December 2025 listing as the basis for terrorism charges in place of the child exploitation and cybercrime provisions used in earlier 764 cases.[^12]
### Footnotes
[^1]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary. *The INSLAW Affair,* H. Rept. 102-857, September 10, 1992, section on Canada; Hamilton, Patricia C., affidavit, February 1991, *INSLAW, Inc. v. United States,* Adv. Proc. No. 86-0069 (Bankr. D.D.C.); U.S. Department of Justice, *Report on the Review of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua's Report,* September 27, 1994, "The Alleged Distribution of Enhanced PROMIS to Canada."
[^2]: Lawton, Valerie, and Allan Thompson, "Spy computer 'trap' probed," *Toronto Star,* August 25, 2000; Thompson, Allan, and Valerie Lawton, "RCMP admit they're investigating 'trap'," *Toronto Star,* August 26, 2000; Lawton, Valerie, and Allan Thompson, "Mounties end probe of Promis," *Toronto Star,* September 16, 2000; texts as forwarded to the CTRL mailing list, https://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/msg49408.html, msg49544.html and msg50988.html.
[^3]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010.
[^1]: Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. R-10, sections 3, 5 and 6.1, consolidated to June 21, 2026. Justice Laws Website. https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/r-10/fulltext.html
[^2]: "Canadian Security Intelligence Service," Government of Canada. https://www.canada.ca/en/security-intelligence-service.html
[^3]: Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-23, preamble. Justice Laws Website. https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-23/page-1.html
[^4]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary. *The INSLAW Affair,* H. Rept. 102-857, September 10, 1992, section on Canada; Hamilton, Patricia C., affidavit, February 1991, *INSLAW, Inc. v. United States,* Adv. Proc. No. 86-0069 (Bankr. D.D.C.); U.S. Department of Justice, *Report on the Review of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua's Report,* September 27, 1994, "The Alleged Distribution of Enhanced PROMIS to Canada."
[^5]: Lawton, Valerie, and Allan Thompson, "Spy computer 'trap' probed," *Toronto Star,* August 25, 2000; Thompson, Allan, and Valerie Lawton, "RCMP admit they're investigating 'trap'," *Toronto Star,* August 26, 2000; Lawton, Valerie, and Allan Thompson, "Mounties end probe of Promis," *Toronto Star,* September 16, 2000; texts as forwarded to the CTRL mailing list, https://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/msg49408.html, msg49544.html and msg50988.html.
[^6]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010.
[^7]: Global News. "FBI Arrests Patrik Mathews, Missing Ex-Reservist from Manitoba Accused of Neo-Nazi Ties." January 2020. https://globalnews.ca/news/6420266/patrik-mathews-neo-nazi-ties-fbi/; CBC News. "Military Conducted Secret Investigation of Reservist Patrik Mathews as a Possible Terrorist Threat." 2021. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/patrik-mathews-canadian-forces-neo-nazi-terrorist-1.5948202
[^8]: CBC News. "Ontario men arrested on terrorism charges linked to neo-Nazi movement." December 2023. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/rcmp-terror-charges-1.7053162; Global News. "2 Ontario men accused of belonging to neo-Nazi terrorism group." December 2023. https://globalnews.ca/news/10157791/ontario-terrorism-charges/
[^9]: Royal Canadian Mounted Police. "Alberta youth arrested for terrorism and child pornography offences." October 2, 2025. https://rcmp.ca/en/news/2025/10/alberta-youth-arrested-terrorism-and-child-pornography
[^10]: Public Safety Canada. "Government of Canada lists four new terrorist entities," news release, December 10, 2025, as distributed by Cision. https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/government-of-canada-lists-four-new-terrorist-entities-856816060.html
[^11]: Public Safety Canada. "Government of Canada lists four new terrorist entities," backgrounder, December 10, 2025. Wayback Machine snapshot of September 14, 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20260914205706/https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2025/12/government-of-canada-lists-four-new-terrorist-entities.html
[^12]: Royal Canadian Mounted Police. "RCMP arrests man linked to violent extremist network 764." April 2026. https://rcmp.ca/en/news/2026/04/4352326; CBC News. "Quebec man faces terrorism charges linked to 764 violent extremism group." https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-man-terrorism-charges-764-violent-extremism-9.7173346; *Globe and Mail.* "Quebec man arrested in connection with 764 terror group." https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-764-terror-group-recruit-arrest/

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---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
alias:
- Schutzstaffel
- Schutzstaffeln
- Die Schutzstaffeln der Nationalsozialistischen Deutschen Arbeiterpartei
tags:
- Organization
- NaziGermany
- HeinrichHimmler
- WaffenSS
- ConcentrationCamps
- Holocaust
- NurembergTrials
- WorldWarII
summary: "The Nazi Party's guard formation, founded by Hitler in 1925 and led by Heinrich Himmler from 1929, which administered the concentration camps and was declared a criminal organization at Nuremberg."
start: 1925
end: 1945
location: "Germany"
created: 2026-09-24
updated: 2026-09-24
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Adolf Hitler]]"
reverse: true
start: 1925
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Heinrich Himmler]]"
reverse: true
role: "Reichsführer SS"
start: 1929
fn: 1
---
The SS (Schutzstaffel) was the guard formation of the [[Nazi Party]]. The [[International Military Tribunal]] at Nuremberg declared it a criminal organization.[^1]
### Origins and Growth
"The SS was originally established by Hitler in 1925 as an elite section of the SA for political purposes under the pretext of protecting speakers at public meetings of the Nazi Party." After the Nazis took power it kept order at mass demonstrations and was given the duty of "internal security" by a decree of [[Adolf Hitler]]. It took part in the purge of [[Ernst Röhm]] on June 30, 1934, and was made an independent unit of the party shortly afterward.[^1]
When [[Heinrich Himmler]] became Reichsführer SS in 1929, the SS numbered 980 men. It had 52,000 in 1933. Its original formation, the [[Allgemeine SS]], reached 240,000 men by 1939, organized into divisions and regiments, and fell to well under 40,000 during the war. The [[SS-Verfügungstruppe]], men who volunteered for four years of armed service in lieu of army service, was equipped as a motorized division in 1939 and formed the nucleus of the [[Waffen SS]] in 1940, which then had 100,000 men and by the end of the war about 580,000 in 40 divisions, under army tactical command but SS supply and discipline. About a third of those who joined the Waffen SS were conscripts. The [[SS-Totenkopfverbände]] guarded the concentration camps, which came under SS control in 1934.[^1]
### Police and Security Service
Beginning in 1933 the police and the SS were gradually amalgamated. In 1936 Himmler became Chief of the German Police, and [[Higher SS and Police Leaders]] in each military district coordinated the [[Order Police]], the [[Security Police]], the SD and the Allgemeine SS on his behalf. In 1939 all officials of the Security and Order Police were taken into the SS at equivalent ranks. The Sicherheitsdienst ([[Sicherheitsdienst|SD]]), "originally an intelligence branch of the SS," became part of the Security Police and SD, which the Tribunal judged together with the [[Gestapo]].[^1]
The SS central organization had twelve main offices, among them the [[Reich Security Main Office]] (RSHA); the [[Economic Administration Main Office]] (WVHA), which administered the concentration camps; and a [[Race and Settlement Office]]. The SS had its own legal system and special courts. Attached to the main offices was the research foundation [[Ahnenerbe]], under the patronage of the Reichsführer SS, to which an institute for military scientific research became attached during the war. It "conducted extensive experiments involving the use of living human beings," and its employee [[Sigmund Rascher|Dr. Rascher]] conducted them "with the full knowledge of the Ahnenerbe."[^1]
### Camps and Killings
From 1934 the SS guarded and administered the concentration camps. After 1942, under the WVHA, the camps were used as a source of slave labor, and under an agreement of September 18, 1942, with the Ministry of Justice, "anti-social elements who had finished prison sentences were to be delivered to the SS to be worked to death." The SS conducted experiments on prisoners of war and camp inmates, including "freezing to death, and killing by poison bullets," and obtained government funds for such research "on the grounds that they had access to human material not available to other agencies."[^1]
The Tribunal found that the extermination of the Jews "was carried out under the direction of the SS central organisation" and put into effect by SS formations, including the [[Einsatzgruppen]]; that Waffen SS divisions were responsible for massacres at [[Oradour-sur-Glane|Oradour]] and [[Lidice]]; and that SS units were used in the occupation of the [[Sudetenland]], Bohemia and Moravia, and [[Memel]]. In speeches in 1943 Himmler encouraged his men to be "tough and ruthless" and spoke of shooting "thousands of leading Poles."[^1]
### Judgment
The Tribunal declared criminal those officially accepted as members of the Allgemeine SS, the Waffen SS, the SS-Totenkopfverbände, and police forces who were members of the SS, if they joined or remained with knowledge of its criminal use or were personally implicated in its crimes. It excluded the SS riding units, persons "drafted into membership by the State in such a way as to give them no choice in the matter, and who had committed no such crimes," and those who had left before September 1, 1939. The defendant [[Ernst Kaltenbrunner]] was named as a member implicated in these activities.[^1]
### After 1945
According to the journalist [[Annie Jacobsen]], the [[Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency]] altered, before security review, the records of German scientists whose Nazi party membership, SS membership or wartime conduct would have disqualified them, so that they could be employed in the [[United States]] under [[Operation Paperclip]]; among them was the rocket engineer [[Wernher von Braun]], an SS officer.[^2] [[Heinz Felfe]], a former officer of the SD, served in the [[Gehlen Organization]] and its successor, the [[Bundesnachrichtendienst]], while working for Soviet intelligence, the subject of his memoir *Im Dienst des Gegners: 10 Jahre Moskaus Mann im BND*.[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg. "Judgment: The Accused Organizations." Avalon Project, Yale Law School. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/judorg.asp
[^2]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America.* Little, Brown and Company, 2014.
[^3]: Felfe, Heinz. *Im Dienst des Gegners: 10 Jahre Moskaus Mann im BND.* Rasch und Röhring, 1986. Breitman, Richard, Norman J. W. Goda, Timothy Naftali, and Robert Wolfe. *U.S. Intelligence and the Nazis.* Cambridge University Press, 2005.