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Wolbert Klaus Smidt

April 12, 2024

Wolbert Klaus Smidt (11 April 1936 in Wilhelmshaven - 29 January 2016 in Hamburg)[1] was a high-ranking German secret service official, diplomat and publicist. He was First Director (Erster Direktor) at the German Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst) and Embassy Counselor in Paris.

Wolbert Klaus Smidt
Born(1936-04-11)11 April 1936
Wilhelmshaven, Germany
Died29 January 2016(2016-01-29) (aged 79)
Hamburg, Germany
Occupations
RelativesKarl Smidt (father)

Career edit

Wolbert Klaus Smidt was a son of admiral Karl Smidt, the NATO commander of the West German navy fleet ("Flag Officer Germany"). After his studies of law at the universities of Mainz, Berlin, Munich and Kiel, Smidt joined the German Federal Intelligence Service in the 1960s in Pullach under their legendary founder Reinhard Gehlen. Among others, Smidt was responsible for intelligence on terrorism and international economic interconnections. Starting from the 1970s he was in charge of several special operations, about which details are not reported in the press.[2]

Starting from the 1980s he was the official representative of the German Federal Intelligence Service in Paris, simultaneously acting as a diplomat and as the director of the Intelligence Service's branch in France. From 1989 he was responsible for networking and consultation in the process of reform and re-foundation of secret services in eastern European countries.[3] At the end of his career he was first director of the department for operative intelligence.

Smidt had received high decorations such as the Bundesverdienstkreuz[2] and Officier de l'Ordre national du Mérite of the French State.[1]

Public Engagement and Debates edit

In 2003 he founded the Think Tank "Gesprächskreis Nachrichtendienste in Deutschland" (GKND, German Forum for the Discussion of Intelligence) in Berlin, together with other high-ranking former secret service officials, journalists and academics, such as Hans-Georg Wieck, in order to contribute to the public debate on the role of secret services in the world.[4] He was the association's president until 2012, and then acted as its honorary president. „The association was founded in order to contribute to a better informed debate about the role of secret services and provide 'intelligence about intelligence'[5]

He organized numerous academic conferences in cooperation with influential German institutions,[6] held numerous lectures[7] and was considered a key-informant for the German press and political think tanks in questions of international terrorism and democratic control of secret services in modern democracies. He was one of the first high-ranking German government representatives who publicly denounced the alleged US American proofs for weapons of mass destruction in the Iraq as evident falsifications, easily recognizable as such by any professional secret service.[8] In diverse publications and interviews he underlined the priority of civil rights and democratic principles over other interests of the state. The new laws issued after 9/11 in Germany, the US and other countries were seen as largely problematic by him, produced in great haste, going too far and even not being efficient.[9] In 2005, the War on Terror was described by him as a dangerous development in international politics in German TV (3sat): „It was forgotten that one has to respect one's own principles when fighting terrorism. If one totally forgets about one's own core values, it is not worth it.“[10] His condemnation of secret actions of the CIA directed against Muslim individuals in Europe, which included illegal kidnappings, in 2005 received wide attention in the press.[11] In 2011 he organized a conference on secret services and the question of ethics ("Ethik und Nachrichtendienste") at the Evangelische Akademie Bad Boll, with the participation of important representatives of the international intelligence community, from the USA, Russia, Israel, France among others.

He was involved in numerous book publications which focus on the question of the uneasy interconnection between democratic principles and secret services, among others together with the German government's Federal Agency for Civic Education (BPB)[12]

Publications edit

  • Monograph: Nachrichtendienste im Spannungsfeld der Demokratie, Einsichten aus dem Inneren internationaler Geheimdienstarbeit, Lit-Verlag, Münster - Berlin 2018.[13]
  • Text contributions in: Andrea Szukula (ed.): Anti-Terror-Politik in Deutschland. (PDF) Köln: Lehrstuhl Internationale Politik 2003 (Arbeitspapiere zur Internationalen Politik und Außenpolitik, AIPA 4/2003), siehe auch Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung: Experten-Forum: Antiterrorpolitik in Deutschland, bpb.de
  • „Haben die Dienste vor dem 11.9.2001 und bei der Aufklärung der Massenvernichtungswaffen im Irak versagt?“ In: Volker Foertsch, Klaus Lange (eds.): Islamistischer Terrorismus: Bestandsaufnahme und Bekämpfungsmöglichkeiten. Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung, München, 2005, S. 82–98, S. 172–184 (PDF; 75 kB)
  • Brauchen wir eine Nachrichtendienst-Kultur? Fakten, Fragen, Forderungen. In: Volker Foertsch, Klaus Lange (eds.): Islamistischer Terrorismus und Massenvernichtungsmittel (= Argumente und Materialien zum Zeitgeschehen, 50). Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung, München, 2006, S. 29–41 (PDF; 1,3 MB)
  • Wolfgang Krieger, Ulrike Poppe, Wolbert K. Smidt, Helmut Müller-Enbergs (eds.): Geheimhaltung und Transparenz, Demokratische Kontrolle der Geheimdienste im internationalen Vergleich (= Demokratie und Geheimdienste, 1). Lit-Verlag, Münster, 2007.[14]
  • Hans-Georg Wieck, Wolbert Smidt: Sécurité intérieure et extérieure de l’Europe: actions à mener. 2005
  • Systeme parlamentarischer Kontrolle von Geheimdiensten – Versuch eines Vergleichs. In: Wolbert K. Smidt, Ulrike Poppe, Wolfgang Krieger, Helmut Müller-Enbergs (eds.): Geheimhaltung und Transparenz. Demokratische Kontrolle der Geheimdienste im internationalen Vergleich. Lit-Verlag, Berlin 2007, S. 235–256.

Interviews edit

Literature edit

  • Georg von Mascolo (1997), "Suche Panzer, biete Lada", Der Spiegel, 1 December 1997, no. 49, pp. 68–74
  • Josef Hufelschulte: Affäre: Drama um „Kosak 3“. Focus 45/2004, 30 October 2004 on Norbert Juretzko: Bedingt dienstbereit.
  • CIA-Affäre: Paris prüft Hinweise auf Geheimflüge. Spiegel Online, 2 December 2005
  • Georg von Mascolo, Holger Stark (2006), "Operation Facelifting", Der Spiegel, 20 February 2006, no. 8, pp. 42–45
  • Eric Gujer: Kampf an neuen Fronten, Wie sich der BND dem Terrorismus stellt. Campus, Frankfurt am Main, 2006, ISBN 978-3-593-37785-8
  • zur Tagung der Evangelischen Akademie in Berlin unter dem Generalthema „Asyl für die RAF“ In: taz, 30 April 2007. See also Dorothea Jung: Das zweite Leben in der DDR: Serie zum „Deutschen Herbst“, Teil 5. Deutschlandradio, 7 September 2007.
  • Florian Klenk, Jochen Bittner: RAF: Graue Männer, rote Armee. Die Zeit 18/2007, 26 April 2007

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Traueranzeige: Wolbert Klaus Smidt". Süddeutsche Zeitung. 2016-02-03. Retrieved 2016-02-04.
  2. ^ a b Otto Langels: Jenseits von James Bond – Aus dem Leben eines Geheimdienstlers. SWR2 Eckpunkt, 22 June 2004, 10:05 h ( at the Wayback Machine (archive index) ).
  3. ^ 2004 Interview für den Newsletter der Ev. Akademie zu Berlin
  4. ^ Homepage of the association GKND e. V.
  5. ^ Evangelische Akademie Berlin
  6. ^ For example on Islamic terror, and on the question of democratic control of secret services: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik: Terror im Namen Gottes? Islamische Gewalt und der Blick der Nachrichtendienste. Informationsdienst Wissenschaft und Junge Akademie an der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina, 9 December 2005.
    Europäische Nachrichtendienste: Transformation und demokratische Kontrolle. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Berlin, 8 April 2008 (pdf; 84 kB).
  7. ^ For example International Conference: „Transatlantic Intelligence Cooperation: Past and Future“, Academy for Communication and Information, Strausberg (Berlin), 31. Mai – 2. Juni 2002.
    Blockseminar „Demokratische Außenpolitik und Geheimdienste: ein Widerspruch?“ Technische Universität Dresden, 2006 (pdf).
    Parlamentarische Kontrolle der Nachrichtendienste im demokratischen Rechtsstaat. Fachkonferenz der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Berlin, 10 October 2007.
  8. ^ Interview in the ZDF, Frontal21, 2003: Falsche Beweise: Skandal um Geheimdienst-Dokumente. Reports on this interview see: Der Konflikt zwischen der UNO und dem Irak: Nachricht ZDF vom 13. März 2003: Falsche Beweise: Skandal um Geheimdienst-Dokumente. krisen-und-konflikte.de, consulted 6 April 2016. Erwin Leder: at the Wayback Machine (archived July 5, 2008) 16 April 2003.
  9. ^ Evangelische Akademie Berlin
    Sarah Kramer: Politik: „Vertrauen in die Geheimdienste stärken“. Interview in Tagesspiegel, 28 August 2006.
  10. ^ Internationale Horchposten: Ist globale Spionage eine Gefahr für die Zivilgesellschaft? 3sat.de Dec 22, 2005
  11. ^ CIA-Affäre: Paris prüft Hinweise auf Geheimflüge. Spiegel Online, 2 December 2005.
  12. ^ See for example the internet publication and http://www.politik.uni-koeln.de/jaeger/downloads/aipa0403.pdf- See also the international conference Geheimhaltung und Transparenz (Secrecy and Transparence) in Berlin, carried out under the curatorship of the President of the German Parliament, Wolfgang Thierse: „Geheimhaltung und Transparenz, Demokratische Kontrolle der Geheimdienste im internationalen Vergleich“ Tagung „Geheimhaltung und Transparenz: Demokratische Kontolle der Geheimdienste im internationalen Vergleich“. Evangelische Akademie zu Berlin, consulted 6 February 2016. Geheimhaltung und Transparenz: Demokratische Kontrolle der Geheimdienste im internationalen Vergleich 26.– 28.03.2004. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, consulted 6 February 2016 (pdf; 270 kB).
  13. ^ "Nachrichtendienste im Spannungsfeld der Demokratie".
  14. ^ [1]; see also: 2006 AFIO Weekly Intelligence Notes #39-06 dated 2 October 2006.
  15. ^ siehe dazu auch: 2007 MDR1 Radio Thüringen zu RAF-Terroristen in der DDR, Entdeckt! – Was wusste der Westen?

External links edit

April 12, 2024
wolbert, klaus, smidt, april, 1936, wilhelmshaven, january, 2016, hamburg, high, ranking, german, secret, service, official, diplomat, publicist, first, director, erster, direktor, german, federal, intelligence, service, bundesnachrichtendienst, embassy, couns. Wolbert Klaus Smidt 11 April 1936 in Wilhelmshaven 29 January 2016 in Hamburg 1 was a high ranking German secret service official diplomat and publicist He was First Director Erster Direktor at the German Federal Intelligence Service Bundesnachrichtendienst and Embassy Counselor in Paris Wolbert Klaus SmidtBorn 1936 04 11 11 April 1936Wilhelmshaven GermanyDied29 January 2016 2016 01 29 aged 79 Hamburg GermanyOccupationsGerman intelligence officer diplomatRelativesKarl Smidt father Contents 1 Career 2 Public Engagement and Debates 3 Publications 4 Interviews 5 Literature 6 References 7 External linksCareer editWolbert Klaus Smidt was a son of admiral Karl Smidt the NATO commander of the West German navy fleet Flag Officer Germany After his studies of law at the universities of Mainz Berlin Munich and Kiel Smidt joined the German Federal Intelligence Service in the 1960s in Pullach under their legendary founder Reinhard Gehlen Among others Smidt was responsible for intelligence on terrorism and international economic interconnections Starting from the 1970s he was in charge of several special operations about which details are not reported in the press 2 Starting from the 1980s he was the official representative of the German Federal Intelligence Service in Paris simultaneously acting as a diplomat and as the director of the Intelligence Service s branch in France From 1989 he was responsible for networking and consultation in the process of reform and re foundation of secret services in eastern European countries 3 At the end of his career he was first director of the department for operative intelligence Smidt had received high decorations such as the Bundesverdienstkreuz 2 and Officier de l Ordre national du Merite of the French State 1 Public Engagement and Debates editIn 2003 he founded the Think Tank Gesprachskreis Nachrichtendienste in Deutschland GKND German Forum for the Discussion of Intelligence in Berlin together with other high ranking former secret service officials journalists and academics such as Hans Georg Wieck in order to contribute to the public debate on the role of secret services in the world 4 He was the association s president until 2012 and then acted as its honorary president The association was founded in order to contribute to a better informed debate about the role of secret services and provide intelligence about intelligence 5 He organized numerous academic conferences in cooperation with influential German institutions 6 held numerous lectures 7 and was considered a key informant for the German press and political think tanks in questions of international terrorism and democratic control of secret services in modern democracies He was one of the first high ranking German government representatives who publicly denounced the alleged US American proofs for weapons of mass destruction in the Iraq as evident falsifications easily recognizable as such by any professional secret service 8 In diverse publications and interviews he underlined the priority of civil rights and democratic principles over other interests of the state The new laws issued after 9 11 in Germany the US and other countries were seen as largely problematic by him produced in great haste going too far and even not being efficient 9 In 2005 the War on Terror was described by him as a dangerous development in international politics in German TV 3sat It was forgotten that one has to respect one s own principles when fighting terrorism If one totally forgets about one s own core values it is not worth it 10 His condemnation of secret actions of the CIA directed against Muslim individuals in Europe which included illegal kidnappings in 2005 received wide attention in the press 11 In 2011 he organized a conference on secret services and the question of ethics Ethik und Nachrichtendienste at the Evangelische Akademie Bad Boll with the participation of important representatives of the international intelligence community from the USA Russia Israel France among others He was involved in numerous book publications which focus on the question of the uneasy interconnection between democratic principles and secret services among others together with the German government s Federal Agency for Civic Education BPB 12 Publications editMonograph Nachrichtendienste im Spannungsfeld der Demokratie Einsichten aus dem Inneren internationaler Geheimdienstarbeit Lit Verlag Munster Berlin 2018 13 Text contributions in Andrea Szukula ed Anti Terror Politik in Deutschland PDF Koln Lehrstuhl Internationale Politik 2003 Arbeitspapiere zur Internationalen Politik und Aussenpolitik AIPA 4 2003 siehe auch Bundeszentrale fur politische Bildung Experten Forum Antiterrorpolitik in Deutschland bpb de Haben die Dienste vor dem 11 9 2001 und bei der Aufklarung der Massenvernichtungswaffen im Irak versagt In Volker Foertsch Klaus Lange eds Islamistischer Terrorismus Bestandsaufnahme und Bekampfungsmoglichkeiten Hanns Seidel Stiftung Munchen 2005 S 82 98 S 172 184 PDF 75 kB Brauchen wir eine Nachrichtendienst Kultur Fakten Fragen Forderungen In Volker Foertsch Klaus Lange eds Islamistischer Terrorismus und Massenvernichtungsmittel Argumente und Materialien zum Zeitgeschehen 50 Hanns Seidel Stiftung Munchen 2006 S 29 41 PDF 1 3 MB Wolfgang Krieger Ulrike Poppe Wolbert K Smidt Helmut Muller Enbergs eds Geheimhaltung und Transparenz Demokratische Kontrolle der Geheimdienste im internationalen Vergleich Demokratie und Geheimdienste 1 Lit Verlag Munster 2007 14 Hans Georg Wieck Wolbert Smidt Securite interieure et exterieure de l Europe actions a mener 2005 Systeme parlamentarischer Kontrolle von Geheimdiensten Versuch eines Vergleichs In Wolbert K Smidt Ulrike Poppe Wolfgang Krieger Helmut Muller Enbergs eds Geheimhaltung und Transparenz Demokratische Kontrolle der Geheimdienste im internationalen Vergleich Lit Verlag Berlin 2007 S 235 256 Interviews editWilhelm Dietl Josef Hufelschulte Deutschland Wir waren die Schmuddelkinder Focus 44 2003 27 October 2003 Otto Langels Jenseits von James Bond Aus dem Leben eines Geheimdienstlers SWR2 Eckpunkt 22 June 2004 Manuskript Interview fur den Newsletter der Evangelischen Akademie zu Berlin 2004 2005 Secret CIA Flights A legitimate Weapon in the War on Terror CIA Geheimfluge Ist im Kampf gegen den Terror alles erlaubt Deutsche Welle TV Diskussion mit Dr Andrew B Denison Wolbert Smidt Wieslaw Wawrzyniak http www transatlantic networks com archiv video htm 2005 in 3sat http www 3sat de 3sat php http www 3sat de kulturzeit lesezeit 86885 index html 2006 Deutschlandradio zu BND Prasenz im Irak Ehemaliger BND Direktor weist Vorwurfe gegen Geheimdienst zuruck Smidt BND Prasenz im Irak beweist Misstrauen gegenuber USA http www dradio de dkultur sendungen interview 458551 Interview in Tagesspiegel 2006 2007 On the cooperation between the German Democratic Republic East Germany s secret service and the West German terrorist group RAF 4 July 2007 20 15 bis 21 00 Uhr NDR 1 Radio MV http www mvschlagzeilen de der feind des feindes ist unser freund 272 15 2011 in ARD Radio Feature Mein Name ist BND Podcast und Manuskript onlineLiterature editGeorg von Mascolo 1997 Suche Panzer biete Lada Der Spiegel 1 December 1997 no 49 pp 68 74 Josef Hufelschulte Affare Drama um Kosak 3 Focus 45 2004 30 October 2004 on Norbert Juretzko Bedingt dienstbereit CIA Affare Paris pruft Hinweise auf Geheimfluge Spiegel Online 2 December 2005 Georg von Mascolo Holger Stark 2006 Operation Facelifting Der Spiegel 20 February 2006 no 8 pp 42 45 Eric Gujer Kampf an neuen Fronten Wie sich der BND dem Terrorismus stellt Campus Frankfurt am Main 2006 ISBN 978 3 593 37785 8 zur Tagung der Evangelischen Akademie in Berlin unter dem Generalthema Asyl fur die RAF In taz 30 April 2007 See also Dorothea Jung Das zweite Leben in der DDR Serie zum Deutschen Herbst Teil 5 Deutschlandradio 7 September 2007 Florian Klenk Jochen Bittner RAF Graue Manner rote Armee Die Zeit 18 2007 26 April 2007References edit a b Traueranzeige Wolbert Klaus Smidt Suddeutsche Zeitung 2016 02 03 Retrieved 2016 02 04 a b Otto Langels Jenseits von James Bond Aus dem Leben eines Geheimdienstlers SWR2 Eckpunkt 22 June 2004 10 05 h Manuskript at the Wayback Machine archive index 2004 Interview fur den Newsletter der Ev Akademie zu Berlin Homepage of the association GKND e V Evangelische Akademie Berlin For example on Islamic terror and on the question of democratic control of secret services Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Auswartige Politik Terror im Namen Gottes Islamische Gewalt und der Blick der Nachrichtendienste Informationsdienst Wissenschaft und Junge Akademie an der Berlin Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina 9 December 2005 Europaische Nachrichtendienste Transformation und demokratische Kontrolle Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Berlin 8 April 2008 pdf 84 kB For example International Conference Transatlantic Intelligence Cooperation Past and Future Academy for Communication and Information Strausberg Berlin 31 Mai 2 Juni 2002 Blockseminar Demokratische Aussenpolitik und Geheimdienste ein Widerspruch Technische Universitat Dresden 2006 pdf Parlamentarische Kontrolle der Nachrichtendienste im demokratischen Rechtsstaat Fachkonferenz der Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Berlin 10 October 2007 Interview in the ZDF Frontal21 2003 Falsche Beweise Skandal um Geheimdienst Dokumente Reports on this interview see Der Konflikt zwischen der UNO und dem Irak Nachricht ZDF vom 13 Marz 2003 Falsche Beweise Skandal um Geheimdienst Dokumente krisen und konflikte de consulted 6 April 2016 Erwin Leder Frontal21 11 March 2003 Falsche Beweise Skandal um Geheimdienst Dokumente at the Wayback Machine archived July 5 2008 16 April 2003 Evangelische Akademie BerlinSarah Kramer Politik Vertrauen in die Geheimdienste starken Interview in Tagesspiegel 28 August 2006 Internationale Horchposten Ist globale Spionage eine Gefahr fur die Zivilgesellschaft 3sat de Dec 22 2005 CIA Affare Paris pruft Hinweise auf Geheimfluge Spiegel Online 2 December 2005 See for example the internet publication and http www politik uni koeln de jaeger downloads aipa0403 pdf See also the international conference Geheimhaltung und Transparenz Secrecy and Transparence in Berlin carried out under the curatorship of the President of the German Parliament Wolfgang Thierse Geheimhaltung und Transparenz Demokratische Kontrolle der Geheimdienste im internationalen Vergleich Tagung Geheimhaltung und Transparenz Demokratische Kontolle der Geheimdienste im internationalen Vergleich Evangelische Akademie zu Berlin consulted 6 February 2016 Geheimhaltung und Transparenz Demokratische Kontrolle der Geheimdienste im internationalen Vergleich 26 28 03 2004 Bundeszentrale fur politische Bildung consulted 6 February 2016 pdf 270 kB Nachrichtendienste im Spannungsfeld der Demokratie 1 see also 2006 AFIO Weekly Intelligence Notes 39 06 dated 2 October 2006 siehe dazu auch 2007 MDR1 Radio Thuringen zu RAF Terroristen in der DDR Entdeckt Was wusste der Westen External links editLiterature by and about Wolbert Klaus Smidt in the German National Library catalogue Homepage of the association GKND e V Wolbert Smidt in Szukala Andrea ed Anti Terror Politik in Deutschland Anti terror policy in Germany Cologne 2003 http www ssoar info ssoar handle document 21847 http nbn resolving de urn nbn de 0168 ssoar 218472 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Wolbert Klaus Smidt amp oldid 1026460650, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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