W. German CIA Said to Spy on Bonn Leaders

By John M. Goshko Washinaton Post Foreign Service BONN, Oct. 9 A former Cab- r evelations that the Central inet minister charged today Intelligence Agency had been that the West German intelli- drawn into the Watergate af- gence service had for yearE fair. spied on the country's top po- The Bonn agency, which is litical leaders and other prom commonly called the BND af- inent citizens. ter its German initials, was The ex-minister, Horst created by the CIA during the Ehmke, said that the intelli- postwar occupation period and gence agency, the Federal In was covertly financed by formation Service, had com- Washington before its absorp- piled what he regarded as ille tion Into the West German gal dossiers on 54 persons, in- government. For many years, eluding Lwo former chaneel it was referred to In intelli- fors and two farmer presi- gence circles as the Gehlen dents. bureau after Gen. Reinhard Testifying beforea Gehlen, its first head. rnenitary investigating commit According to Ehmke's testi- tee, Ehmke said that the list many today, the END's domes- of those put under surveil- tic spying activities began dur- lance included leaders of all ing Gehlen's tenure and con- the West German political tinued after his retirement in parties and persons prominent the mid-1960s. Ehmke said he in academic, military and learned of t h em when the other fields. Brandt government took office Among them, Ehmke in 1969 and he was assigned claimed, were former Chancel- supervision over the intelli- lors Willy Brandt and Ludwig mgracy, Oct. 10,1974 THE WASHINGTON POST gence organization as part of A 2S Erhard and former Presidents his duties in the chancellery Gustav Heinemann and Hein. office. rich Luebke. Others that he He testified that he found named included Christian he 54 dossiers at Pullach, the Democratic leaders Rainer BND headquarters. He said Barrel and Franz-Josef that after deciding that they W. German CIA Strauss; Erich Mende, former were contrary to the BND's chairman of the Free Demo- mandate of collecting foreign cratic. Party; Gen. Hans Spei- intelligence, he ordered them del, former general inspector destroyed. However, Ehmke of the: armed forces, and Si- said, he learned later that cop- Said to Spy on mon ,.VViesenthal, director of ies of at least some of the dos- the Nazi4turrting Jewish docu- siers had been preserved. mentation center in Vienna. In further testimony, Ehrrlice's sensational allega- Ehmke indicated that this do- tions came in the course of mestic spying was only part of Bonn Leaders testimony before the commit- what he termed the abuses en- tee investigating the circum- gaged in by the intelligence stances that enabled an East service. Although he did not German spy, Guenter Guil- go into specifics, he said that laume, to win a post on when he assumed his supervi- Brandt's rshaneeLlery staff. The sory role in 1969 he found that unrcovering of Guillaume's the END also was involved in spying role triggered Brandt's weapons-dealing and in paying resignation as chancellor last West German jounalists to May. plant propaganda in the guise However, the charges made of articles in the press. by Ehmke, who had been min- Gehlen, a shadowy figures ister Of chancellery affairs in whose espionage career began the Brandt Cabinet, could sig- when he headed Nazi army in- nal an unpredictable new turn elligence on the Soviet front in the Investigation. it might cl uring World War II, also had turn what has been an inquiry h een scheduled to testify be- focussed primarily on security ore the committee today. clearance procedures into a However, his appearance national controversy about the was deferred indefinitely after role of intelligence activities his doctors notified the corn- ;In West German life. m ittee that he is ill and not Ehmke's allegations se e m a ble to travel to Bonn from certain to stir the same kind outhern Germany, where he of debate that was touched off had lived in seculusion since in the United States following h is retirement. .

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