The primary intelligence requirement against Germany is economic intelligence, though there are also some requirements against its military capabilities.
One such intelligence gathering operation against Germany is the ORCADA operation against the German Bundesbank. ORCADA is a German national and a senior officer in the Bundesbank, with access to all of Germany's most sensitive economic and financial information.
ORCADA was recruited by MI6 in approximately 1986 and has since then been a fully conscious agent. His motive is entirely financial, and he is paid very substantially. Indeed, he is amongst the best paid and most important of any of MI6's agents. He provides regular and detailed intelligence on all German interest rate movements , and provided detailed information on the German negotiating position during the Maastricht treaty negotiations. ORCADA's importance to MI6 is such that an MI6 officer is posted full time to Bonn and is dedicated entirely to running him. This MI6 officer works under Chancery cover in the Consulate and, unusually, even his Foreign Office colleagues are unaware that he is a "Friend" (FCO jargon for an MI6 officer), such is the sensitivity of the case.
The officer is given lengthy training in economics and finance at the London School of Economics, in addition to being trained to a high degree of fluency in German. Generally, he is a newly recruited officer who has not been "blown" to the BND, the German intelligence service. |
