10 - More than Guarding Borders: From BGS to Bundespolizei

Summary

GSG 9's DRAMATIC RESCUE of the hostages aboard Lufthansa Flight 181 did not end the Federal Republic's ongoing struggle against terrorism or the questions its responses raised about the ethics of secu-rity in a democracy. The success of GSG 9 was tempered by the failure of West Germany's security forces to locate and rescue Hanns-Martin Schleyer before he was murdered by the RAF. Former Interior Minister Hermann Höcherl investigated the failed attempt to find Schleyer and in his final analysis, recommended more coordination between the Federal Republic's security agencies. Six weeks after Colonel Wegener and his men returned in triumph, however, the BGS faced accusations that the government's security policies had gone too far. Border police officers assigned to the Munich Airport detained Bundestag Deputy Eckart Kuhlwein (SPD) during a routine pre-boarding security check. His com-plaints about his treatment renewed the public debate about the nature of the government's collection of personal data from travelers, and, more important, which agencies it was sharing it with. Interior Minister Werner Maihofer, who replaced Genscher when he became Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1974, faced problems of his own over invasive security policies. In 1977, Der Spiegel revealed that he had authorized a secret wiretapping operation against nuclear physicist Klaus Traube, whom he suspected of having ties to the RAF. When he failed to produce evidence linking Traube to the RAF, Maihofer resigned. Gerhart Baum, a liberal member of the FDP, replaced him.

Baum brought a new approach to the post of Interior Minister, and his progressive policies were a moderating influence on the BGS. The 1972 revisions to the Border Police Act had set the organization on a path towards modernization and in the years that followed led to greater integration of its personnel with West Germany's state police forces. Because of these reforms, by 1973 the BGS reached and exceeded its full strength of 20,000 men for the first time in its history. The Interior Ministry no longer needed conscripts to maintain adequate staffing. The passage of a new Personnel Structure Act in 1976 equalized the pay, benefits, and training of border police officers with their state police colleagues. Moreover, the Federal Republic's state police forces now hired twenty percent of their recruits from the BGS, providing its members with greater career incentives and better prospects for advancement.