Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung The Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung ( HVA ) ( en . Main Reconnaissance Administration ) of the former German Democratic Republic ( GDR , " East Germany " ) was the foreign intelligence service of the GDR and was an integral part of the GDR Ministry of State Security " ( Ministerium für Staatssicherheit " / MfS ) . After the MfS was disbanded in 1990 its mode of operation was revealed to the public and the HVA was subjected to broad interest , as well as intensive research , which falls under the responsibilities of the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic " ( Official site ) " . The end of the HVA and the discovery of its internal structure , its methods and its employees was an exceptional event , which to date is unique in modern history , after World War II . The HVA is regarded as the most effective foreign intelligence service during the Cold War . Duties . Focus . The primary mandate of the HVA was " foreign reconnaissance " ( espionage ) , which included political , military , economic and technological intelligence - gathering . Among its other duties were activities against western intelligence agencies ( by means of infiltrating their operations ) , preparing acts of sabotage , as well as the so - called " Active Measures " " ( distributing false intelligence ) " in the " Operational Sector Federal Republic of Germany " , including West Berlin . In the early 1980s , military espionage began to gain significance . The Soviet Union , the SED - led administration of the German Democratic Republic , and secretary of national security Erich Mielke expected paramount information in regard to the early discovery of Western war preparations from the HVA , in light of the rising tensions between the two Cold War superpowers . Cooperation with the KGB . Optimal conditions allowed the HVA to provide its eastern " sister services " , especially the KGB , the greatest amount of intelligence flowing out of the Federal Republic of Germany , which was the most significant European NATO member . The KGB was headquartered in Berlin - Karlshorst , the Soviet Union ' s secret service was located in Potsdam - Babelsberg , and in addition , liaisons were present to each district administration . Successful operations against NATO headquarters in Brussels , as well as some other Western European states , such as Great Britain also contributed to the HVA ' s significance . In the United States , on the contrary , the HVA was never able to break any ground , as the KGB operated there almost exclusively . Organisation and structure . Sections . In 1989 the HVA had 21 sections ( " Abteilungen " ) and 5 task forces ( " Arbeitsgruppen " ) . In addition , there was the Headquarters of the HVA ( " Stab der HVA " ) and the Sector for Science and Technology ( " Sektor Wissenschaft und Technik " ) ( SWT ) , responsible for technological espionage , whose responsibilities were spread across sections . Leadership . Sections VII , IX , X and task force S were directly subordinated to the head of the HVA , Colonel General Werner Großmann . His predecessor was Colonel General Markus Wolf , who led the HVA over 34 years until 1986 and was held in high professional regard in the intelligence community . The head of the HVA had five deputies . In the last case , these were Major Generals Horst Vogel ( 1 . Deputy ) , Heinz Geyer ( Chief of Staff ) , Heinrich Tauchert and Werner Prosetzky as well as Colonel Ralf - Peter Devaux . Recruitment and training . Initially , the " HVA College " , disguised as " " Zentralschule der Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik Edkar André " " ( " Edkar André Main College of the Society for Sports and Vocational Training " ) , was initially headquartered in Belzig . Starting in 1965 , it was incrementally absorbed into the " " Juristische Hochschule des MfS ( JHS ) " " ( " Graduate Law School of the Ministry of State Security " ) , located in Golm ( Potsdam ) , initially as a vocational training school . From 1968 on , it was called " " Fachrichtung für Aufklärung der JHS " " ( " College of Reconnaissance of the JHS " ) , and was later renamed to " " Sektion A " " ( " Section A " ) . The " " Fremdsprachenschule des MfS " " ( " College of Foreign Languages of the Ministry of National Security " ) , also referred to as " Educational Department F " , was attached to it . In 1988 , the HVA College , including the College of Foreign Languages , previously located in Dammsmühle bei Mühlenbeck , moved to Lake Seddin in Gosen near the Berlin city limits , approximately 4 . 5 miles ( 3 kilometers ) south of the city of Erkner . The backup bunker for the headquarters of the HVA was also located there . In 1989 the college had approximately 300 employees and was headed by Lieutenant Bernd Kaufmann . It worked in close cooperation with " " Dept . A XIX " " , and was structured into three " Educational Departments " : Personnel . Full time . The HVA had more than 3 , 800 full - time employees in 1989 . Among them were , according to the agency ' s directory , approximately 2 , 400 professional agents and 700 deputies , 700 unofficial employees , and 670 special agents " ( Offiziere im besonderen Einsatz ) " . In the course of the HVA ' s self - disestablishment , the number of employees rose at times above 4 , 200 . In the autumn of 1989 , seven supervisors had a ranking of " General " : highest - ranking associate was manager of the HVA , Werner Großmann , as Lieutenant General . Four of his deputies , as well as Harry Schütt ( chief of counter - espionage ) and Otto Ledermann ( manager of the SED foundation of the HVA ) were Major Generals . The HVA associates regarded themselves to be the elite of the Ministry of State Security . A high degree of personal engagement , flexibility , performance , and primarily absolute loyalty to the SED was expected of them . Qualified employees of other MfS departments , such as those with secondary educational degrees , knowledge of foreign languages , etc . , could , as a reward for " remarkable achievements " , be transferred to the HVA as needed , which was akin to a decoration . On the other hand , HVA personnel could , due to inadequate performance or following an investigation , be transferred to other departments of the MfS , practically constituting a demotion . Unofficial and other employees . The full - time staff of the HVA were complemented by the " unofficial collaborators " or " unofficial employees " , the so - called IMs ( " Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter " ) , the exact number of which is still not known . These were primarily GDR citizens with permission to travel to the West ( the " Reisekader " ; conversely , only a fraction of those with travel permission were IMs ) , residents of East Germany who were related to " functionally interesting " target persons in the West , couriers and instructors , but also thousands of residents of West Germany and West Berlin , partly in exposed positions in society . The HVA was particularly interested in recruiting Western students who were visiting the GDR . These were young academics who were suitable for leadership roles and therefore particularly predestined for confidential information ; they were developed over decades at a high financial and personnel cost , with the goal of placing them in high positions in the state and the economy , through which they gained access to secret information . A famous example of such a recruitment operation was Gabriele Gast , who committed herself in 1968 as a student and rose to the rank of " Regierungsdirektorin " ( Government Director ) in the Bundesnachrichtendienst ( Federal Intelligence Service ) , the foreign intelligence agency of West Germany . As a high - level source , she was led by Markus Wolf personally . The actual sources of espionage operations in the West were not necessarily registered as IMs with the HVA ( or the Ministry of State Security ) . In many cases , they were noted as " Kontaktpersonen " ( KP ) ( contact persons ) , which reveals little about the degree of cooperation with the intelligence service . Headquarters . The HVA ' s predecessor , the APN ( " Außenpolitischer Nachrichtendienst " : Foreign Intelligence Service ) resided in the early 1950s first in Pankow , then at the Rolandufer in Mitte . The headquarters of the HVA was situated since the mid - to late 1950s in the building complex of the Stasi ' s headquarters in the Berlin borough of Lichtenberg . After completion of the new office buildings at the corner of Ruschestraße and Frankfurter Allee , the HVA established its base of operations there . ( After 1990 an employment agency moved into a building on the site . The building on the Frankfurter Allee is used by Deutsche Bahn . A Deutsche Bahn company logo has been affixed and is easily noticeable . ) The " Operativ - Technische Sektor " ( OTS ) was located in the Roedernstraße in Hohenschönhausen . Budget . Markus Wolf asserted in front of a Bundestag committee investigating the activities of the Division of Commercial Coordination ( " Bereich Kommerzielle Koordinierung " or " KoKo " ) that at the end of his tenure ( 1986 ) the yearly financial resources of the HVA for operational purposes stood at 17 million East German mark and 13 , 5 million Deutsche Mark . It was not possible to conclusively refute or verify this statement . In individual HVA sections , there existed " black cash boxes " under the responsibility of the section or department head . Considerably greater amounts were made available for the secret procurement of equipment for section A VIII ( " Operational Technology and Radio Communications " ) and for other recipients in the Stasi , the National People ' s Army or the East German economy ; this money generally came from the Division of Commercial Coordination . History . Predecessors . In 1951 the " Außenpolitischer Nachrichtendienst " ( Foreign Intelligence Service ) ( APN ) was founded , under the leadership of Anton Ackermann , disguised as the " Institut für wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Forschung " ( IPW ) ( Institute for Economic Research ) . According to Markus Wolf , there were eight Germans and four Soviet " advisers " present at the founding on 1 September 1951 in Bohnsdorf in the borough of Treptow - Köpenick . The APN was subordinated to the Foreign Ministry of the GDR . The first leader was Ackermann , his deputy was Richard Stahlmann . The head of the " advisers " was the KGB officer Andrej Grauer , who , according to Wolf , was assigned by Stalin personally to this " reconstruction aid " . In 1952 the College of the APN came into being ( the later College of the HVA ) , where mostly agents ( known as " Scouts for peace " in Stasi jargon ) were prepared for operations in Western countries . Towards the end of the year , Ackermann petitioned the ruling party ' s politburo to replace him , and Walter Ulbricht assumed direct control of the APN .