CIA Reading Room cia rdp88 01315r000300560027 2 pdf

CIA Reading Room cia rdp88 01315r000300560027 2

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p n Approved For Release 2 r ~ ~ Y DP88-01315R00030Q~i6fl( ~^ t `~ t O How Soviet spies went after the blueprints for the defense of Europe–with sex, money, and ice-cold cunning. In the red safelight glow of a Bonn dark- room, a technician took a thumbnail-wide roll of black-and-white film from the drying cupboard and carried it over to a viewing box. With a magnify- ing glass, he swiftly examined the oblong BY DAVID LEWIS negatives, which had been taken by a Minox camera. It was a routine check, carried out at the request of the Bonn police to catch amateur por- nographers who sometimes used the inconspic- uous miniature cameras. But what the technician now saw through his powerful lens was far from routine. The first’ nine negatives contained pic- tures of documents, and at the top of each doc- ument were the words NATO.

Security Classifi- cafion-Cosmic Top Secret. The time was 6:20 P.m. The date, Friday, Sep- tember 27, 1968. One of the most astonishing spy dramas in the history of Western security was about to be blown wide open. Within the space of only two weeks, a German admiral with nearly forty years’ service, who was one of the West’s top military planners at Supreme Head- quarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), would be shot dead; the deputy chief of the West Ger- man secret service would put a bullet through his brain; several other top officials-would also die violently; and the North Atlantic Treaty Orga- nization (NATO) would be seen to have suffered the most far-reaching and humiliating security defeat in its history. When the startled technician hurried out of the darkroom to report his discovery,. Frau Trude Helke. the manager of the photographic shop on Bonn’s Sternstrasse, was just locking up for the night.

With a few terse words of explanation, he handed her the film and the glass. Frau Helke first checked the negatives and then her pile of order forms to discover the name and address of the customer. It was easily located. The film had been left at the shop the previous Monday and the cost of processing paid in advance. The client had asked that the negatives and a set of prints be posted to him in Belgium. His name was Rear Admiral Hermann Luedke; his ad- dress: the officers’ quarters, Supreme Head- quarters Allied Powers Europe, at Mons. Frau fJj C1 ?U SSff112~-(< ‘ f3 ve-,D he examined and took charge of the film. Then he called the headquarters of Milita- rischer Abschirmdienst (MAD, or Military Coun- terintelligence) and ,told them what had been discovered. They did some quick check- ing and found that Luedke was still in Bonn.

The admiral, in fact. was attending a banquet that evening at mili- tary headquarters. At the very early age of fifty- seven, he was retiring because of ill health, and the banquet was a farewell present from his fellow officers. Three senior investigators ‘from military counterintelligence drove to the building. In the banqueting hall, Admiral Luedke was listening, with suitable modesty, as General Ul- rich de Maiziere, the chief of the defense staff. extolled his personal and military virtues. The speeches completed. Admiral Luedke posed for photographs beside the general. Afterwards. as he prepared to leave, General de Maiziere drew him to one side. “May I have a word with you, Hermann? he asked quietly. “There is a room over there where we can speak in private.” Bewildered, Luedke followed his superior from the banqueting hall, into an office. The door was closed firmly behind him. With an embar- rassed air, General de Maiziere nodded towards three civilians.

“These gentlemen are from mili- tary counterintelligence, Hermann. I am sorry about this. It hardly seems the occasion for such a thing, but the matter is urgent.” Appearing cop, pletely mystified, Hermann Luedke sat down in a red plush armchair and looked from one security man to the next for enlightenment. The roll of negatives was pro- duced; together with a set of hastily made prints. and Luedke was asked if he recognized the vari- ous pictures. The admiral flipped through a group of family snaps and cheerfully admitted he had taken them. Then he came to three photographs of the license plate of his Ford car, frowned thoughtful- ly, and said that he didn’t recall taking those particular shots. His look of bewilderment changed to one of mild embarrassment when he came to the next Helke t eked the negatives into a drawer and batch of prints, which showed an attractive phonee rp&1%4.

CR* tRQQi?’Ofk111i1I : Q1A4RDl 88lfW 0151RM$005 letely inspector of the Fourteenth (Political) Commis- nude. But it was not until he reached the final sariat, who immediately drove to the shop, where nine prints that Luedke’s expression dramatical

• Creator/s: CIA Reading Room
• Date: 2/1/1976
• Book Topics/Themes: CIA Reading Room

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