Tales of a Master Spy From the Other Side The former chief of East German intelligence and the model for John le Carre's Karla, MARKUS WOLF talks about espionage in the bad old days of the cold war, why he returned from Moscow to face possible imprisonment and what he likes best about his favorite spy novelist
Q. You worked for the East German foreign intelligence agency for more than three decades. What were your U.S. operations like?
A. Our work concentrated mainly on U.S. targets in West Germany and in West Berlin. It was only at a relatively late stage that we began to establish contacts within the U.S. Our initial efforts were to send in so-called sleepers, or undercover agents. Unfortunately, the first one was uncovered, and he revealed everything he knew. This was a major setback. After the German Democratic Republic opened its embassies in Washington and at the United Nations, we established contacts, but most of the material we managed to obtain by these sources was legal or semilegal. It was not top-secret information. If you are wondering whether we had contacts on a very high level -- no, there was no American Senator or higher official on our payroll.
Q. Were you really so unsuccessful?
A. In the 1950s and 1960s we did have a very good source in the American mission in West Berlin -- a German in the political section. So I don't want to present a picture of us being completely harmless. But except for this, I believe I do not merit praise for our work in the U.S.
Q. Are the rumors true that you recruited high-ranking West Germans as your agents?
A. Last year I was informed that a letter had been sent by the last East German government to the West German side giving a guarantee that in the last few years there was no agent activity above the level of ministry director ((the top civil-service rank)). There have been questions about whether a state secretary ((the level just below Cabinet rank)) was involved. There wasn't.
Q. Are any of the estimated 400 ex-agents who have not yet been uncovered working now for the KGB or another spy service?
A. Where that 400 figure comes from is a mystery to me. But I can say that I did not pass on a single one to the KGB, nor did my successor. The head of the intelligence service in the Soviet Union would not want to continue any form of contact. The risk would be too great. One cannot rule out, however, that some adventurers might try to profit from their knowledge.
Q. Do you merit praise for work elsewhere?
A. The most important reason for the successes of our intelligence service was that I focused our activities on West Germany and West Berlin. Once the G.D.R. began opening embassies, we had more contacts in more countries, but I tried to avoid too great a fragmentation of our activities.
Q. Which intelligence service do you rate the most successful?
A. The U.S. services could draw upon knowledge they gained in West Germany and West Berlin. At least in quantitative terms, I could say that they were successful. As far as quality is concerned, I don't know. We had considerable success against the West German intelligence services, as the heads of those services themselves have confirmed. I probably know less than you about Mossad or the British intelligence services.