General Reinhard Gehlen The CIA Connection

This is the first authoritative account of the postwar relationship between General Reinhard Gehlen, a figure unique in the history of espionage, and American intelligence. Eleven years after the defeat of Germany, Gehlen, Hitler's chief of eastern front intelligence, became head of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) for the democratic West German government of Konrad Adenauer.

The core of his staff in the BND were the same officers who had served with him under Hitler. The instruments for this metamorphosis were agencies of Gehlen's former enemy: U.S. Army Intelligence and the CIA. How did this happen and why? Was there a Nazi connection?

This book answers these questions in detail, combining the elements of a gripping novel of espionage with solid scholarship based on U.S. government documents and interviews with former G-2, CIC and CIA officers.




ISBN-13: 9780913969304
Author : Mary Ellen Reese
Publisher: George Mason University Press
Publication date: 03/01/1991

Editorial Reviews - Publishers Weekly

Lacking an espionage apparatus in Eastern Europe during the early Cold War, the U.S. turned to General Reinhard Gehlen, former chief of Eastern Front Intelligence for Hitler. This highly controversial gamble paid off handsomely as Gehlen, assisted by virtually the same staff that served him during WW II, provided U.S. Army Intelligence and the CIA with reliable information about the Soviet arms buildup. In a coolly objective and well-researched study, Reese reveals the close association between Gehlen and CIA director Allen Dulles and describes how Gehlen's organization ultimately became the official intelligence service of the West German government until 1963, when Soviet agent Heinz Felfe succeeded in wreaking the same sort of havoc that Kim Philby caused British intelligence at about the same time. By the author of Breaking Cover , this authoritative book emphasizes Gehlen's uncanny ability to trim his sails to whatever political breeze was blowing in Germany. (Sept.)

Meet the Author

Mary Ellen Reese is a graduate of Harvard and a former member of the editorial staff of "The New Yorker." Her most recent book, "Breaking Cover", was a national bestseller.