Intelligence, Mistrust and Transparency: A Case Study of the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution

Abstract

The chapter provides a case study of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which has been in charge of protecting West Germany against any attempts to threaten its political system. Making use of the systems theory perspective, which assumes that mistrust is not the opposite of trust, but rather its functional equivalent, Goschler analyses the relationship between different dimensions of mistrust in connection with the Federal Office. The author argues that at least with respect to democratic theory public mistrust against the Federal Office has not been the problem, but rather the solution, and concludes that systemic trust in democracy implies mistrust in intelligence agencies, which by their very nature never can comply with public expectations of transparency.