ABSTRACT
Thanks in part to the publicity skills of Markus Wolf and to its victories on the 'invisible front', the Main Administration for Reconnaissance (Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung — HV A) has been semi-heroicised as a remarkably efficient and professional espionage service. Its role in the fall of Chancellor Willy Brandt, the recruitment of Bonn's lonely 'secretaries' by 'Romeo' agents, and most significantly of all, its penetration of the highest levels of West German society and politics have aroused widespread public interest. However, HV A's aims and objectives were not confined to the procurement of intelligence. 1 As an arm of the omnipresent Ministry of State Security, HV A also coordinated its actions with the Stasi's 'domestic' departments in rooting out opposition to SED rule, both in the GDR and in West Germany. Not only did HV A organise its actions on both sides of the inter-German border with other MfS units, their common mission as the 'sword and shield' of the SED regime was also determined by the thesis of political-ideological diversion (PID). As discussed in Chapter 8, this posited that the origins of opposition to the communist system came essentially from beyond its own borders, not least from the alleged role of the Western secret services.
