Bundesamt fur Verfassunsschutz
Federal Bureau for Constitutional Protection, German counterintelligence service which was founded back in 1949 when the allies permitted such organization for protecting the security. It was build to the image of MI-5. It was considered to separate from the police and thus losing the executive power. The very first chief defected soon and that caused a vast affair in BfV. After the approval of the law from 1972, the BfV was divided into eight departments with over 1,000 workmen in the headquarters plus thousands of staff in all federation states.The BfV provides security of information, checks the staff applying for important posts, handles terrorism and extremism. The HQ are placed in Koln am Rein (Cologne on Rhine).
