The Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service or the BND Headquarters (german: Zentrale des Bundesnachrichtendienstes, colloquially the ) is the headquarters of the

Federal Intelligence Service The Federal Intelligence Service (German: ; , BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Chancellor's Office. The BND headquarters is located in central Berlin and is the world's largest intelligence head ...

(BND) of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and is located at the

Chausseestraße Chausseestraße () is a major street in the centre of Berlin, located in the district of Mitte. It is 1.7 kilometres long. Many notable buildings and structures are located along the street, including the Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence ...

in the

Mitte Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuzb ...

district in the centre of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. It is also known colloquially by the

metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept. Etymology The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...

Chausseestraße. Established during the early

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, the Federal Intelligence Service is the second largest intelligence agency in the Western world, second only to its close partner, the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

(CIA) of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The building that houses its headquarters is the world's largest intelligence building, somewhat larger than the CIA headquarters at Langley.

History

The complex is designed by the architect firm Kleihues + Kleihues. Construction started in 2006 and was completed in 2017. With 260,000 m² (2.8 million ft²), it is the world's largest intelligence headquarters, somewhat bigger than the CIA headquarters at Langley, and around 4,000 people work there. It is also Berlin's second largest building, after Berlin Tempelhof Airport. The first employees moved into the new complex in late 2017; the relocation from the former headquarters in

Pullach Pullach, officially Pullach i. Isartal, is a municipality in the district of Munich in Bavaria in Germany. It lies on the Isar Valley Railway and is served by the S 7 line of the Munich S-Bahn, at the Großhesselohe Isartalbahnhof, Pullach and ...

was completed in the autumn of 2018. 2019-08-30 BND Zentrale Berlin OK 0318

The headquarters is located near the former trace of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

, on the eastern side, some 350 meters (1150 ft) from the canal which marked the border to

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

during the

, and directly adjacent to the former

Chausseestraße crossing point Chausseestraße () is a major street in the centre of Berlin, located in the district of Mitte. It is 1.7 kilometres long. Many notable buildings and structures are located along the street, including the Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence ...

. The headquarters are built on the site of the former stadium

Stadion der Weltjugend Stadion der Weltjugend was a multi-use stadium in the locality of Mitte in the eponymous borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. It was inaguruated on 20 May 1950 by the First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party, Walter Ulbricht for the first ...

. Following the decision to build the new BND headquarters there, a massive

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

has taken place in the neighbourhood, with many new construction projects opposite the BND headquarters, including high-end apartment buildings, a new park, the Café Top Secret, a new hotel, and buildings housing office spaces and retail stores. The headquarters includes a

visitor center A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to visitors. Types of visitor center A visit ...

that is open to the public; it is the first intelligence organisation to have such a center. Although completed in 2017, the official opening was held in February 2019.

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

Chancellor of Germany The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...

attended and made this statement: "In an often very confusing world, now, more urgently than ever, Germany needs a strong and efficient foreign intelligence service". At the time, some 4,000 employees were expected to work from this location, moving here from the former headquarters in a suburb of

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. The agency's total number of employees, in Germany and other countries, was approximately 6,500.

References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Mitte Intelligence agency headquarters Government buildings completed in 2017 2017 establishments in Germany Federal Intelligence Service