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==Gehlen Organization==

==Gehlen Organization==

After [[World War II]], the [[United States]] recognized that it did not have an [[intelligence agency|intelligence capability]] directed toward the [[Soviet Union]], its wartime ally. Gehlen [[negotiate]]d an agreement with the United States which allowed his operation to continue in existence despite post-war [[de-nazification]] programs. The group, including his immediate staff of about 350 agents, was known as the Gehlen Organization. Reconstituted as a functioning [[espionage]] network under U.S. control, it became the newly created [[CIA]]'s eyes and ears in [[Eastern Europe]] and in the Soviet Union.

After [[World War II]], the [[United States]] recognized that it did not have an [[intelligence agency|intelligence capability]] directed toward the [[Soviet Union]], its wartime ally. Gehlen, who was director of the [[Abwehr]] ([[German]] [[military]] intelligence) for the [[Eastern Front]] tasked with analyzing the [[Soviet]] military, [[negotiate]]d an agreement with the United States which allowed his operation to continue in existence despite post-war [[de-nazification]] programs. The group, including his immediate staff of about 350 agents, was known as the Gehlen Organization. Reconstituted as a functioning [[espionage]] network under U.S. control, it became the newly created [[CIA]]'s eyes and ears in [[Eastern Europe]] and in the Soviet Union.<ref>[https://www.historynet.com/reinhard-gehlen-the-nazi-spy-chief-turned-cia-agent/ When the CIA Bankrolled a Nazi Spy Chief], by Claire Barrett, ''HistoryNet'', 1/14/2022. historynet.com</ref>

Hundreds of German [[Wehrmacht]] and [[SS]] officers were released from internment camps under [[Operation Paperclip]] to join Gehlen's headquarters in the Spessart Mountains in central Germany. When the staff grew to 3,000, the Bureau Gehlen moved to a twenty-five-acre compound near Pullach, south of [[Munich]], operating under the name of the South German Industrial Development Organization. In the early fifties it was estimated that the organization employed up to 4,000 intelligence specialists in Germany, mainly former Wehrmacht and SS officers, and that more than 4,000 V-men (undercover agents) were active throughout the [[Soviet]]-bloc countries.

Hundreds of German [[Wehrmacht]] and [[SS]] officers were released from internment camps under [[Operation Paperclip]] to join Gehlen's headquarters in the Spessart Mountains in central Germany. When the staff grew to 3,000, the Bureau Gehlen moved to a twenty-five-acre compound near Pullach, south of [[Munich]], operating under the name of the South German Industrial Development Organization. In the early fifties it was estimated that the organization employed up to 4,000 intelligence specialists in Germany, mainly former Wehrmacht and SS officers, and that more than 4,000 V-men (undercover agents) were active throughout the [[Soviet]]-bloc countries.