Incendiary Informants Did German Intelligence Fuel Far-Right Extremism? Part 2 Divided Loyalties
Confidential informants like Kai D. can be the most valuable tool for the intelligence services, because they can go to places were the authorities cannot. But they also pose a risk to democracy. The letter "V" in "V-Mann" -- "Vertrauens-Mann," the German term for informant, which translates loosely as "Confidence Man" -- doesn't really stand for "Vertrauen," or "confidence," but for "Verrat" ("betrayal"), says Hans-Jürgen Förster, the former head of domestic intelligence for the eastern state of Brandenburg. Informants often have divided loyalties.