- Five of Adolph Eichmann's Nazi assistants were recruited
and employed by the Central Intelligence Agency after World War II, according
to recently declassified intelligence documents.
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- The information came to light after a lengthy battle
waged by the non-profit group, The National Security Archive, whose goal
is to expose government documents under the framework of the Freedom of
Information Act.
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- The newly-revealed documents are based on internal investigations
in the CIA's history department. The agency has steadfastly refused to
make the documents public for fear they would cause embarassment.
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- The revelations cast a negative light not only on American
intelligence activity but also the U.S. Army's conduct in Germany at the
conclusion of the war. The military made efforts to recruit members of
the SS and the Gestapo into its ranks despite simultaenously waging a campaign
of de-Nazification over vanquished Germany, a process which included arresting
and trying Nazi war criminals.
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- The documents also reveal in great detail CIA efforts
to recruit Reinhard Gehlen, who was the Wermacht's chief intelligence officer
for the eastern front during the war.
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- The recruitment evolved into a new intelligence sub-organization
known as "Gehlen's Organization," which served as the basis for
what would later become West Germany's foreign intelligence service, the
Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND).
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- According to the new findings, Gehlen's Organization
employed a number of Gestapo and SS officials. Gehlen and his senior associates
secretly operated out of a building with the knowledge of the American
occupation forces.
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