Military Counterintelligence Service (Germany)

Military Counterintelligence Service Militärischer Abschirmdienst (MAD)
Logo of the MAD
Active	since 1956
Country	Germany
Branch	Federal Ministry of Defense
Type	Military intelligence
Size	~ 1250 (2021) to be increased to 1800
Part of	Federal Ministry of Defence
Headquarters	Cologne
Commanders
President	Martina Rosenberg

The Military Counterintelligence Service (German: Militärischer Abschirmdienst; MAD) is one of the three federal intelligence agencies in Germany, and is responsible for military counterintelligence within Bundeswehr. The MAD is subordinate to the Federal Ministry of Defense.

The primary tasks of the MAD include securing German troops, camps and facilities against external threats. This is primarily about defensive military intelligence, i.e. the collection of strategic information nationally and at deployments abroad. The MAD is responsible for vetting new members of the armed forces and monitors them for extremism and possible espionage.

The headquarters of the MAD are in Cologne, with twelve offices located in cities throughout Germany. These MAD offices are collectively known to be the Militärischer Abschirmdienst. The agency has about 1,300 military and civilian employees and in 2019 the budget was €113,252,000.

Its formal name is Bundesamt für den Militärischen Abschirmdienst, changed from the former name Amt für die Sicherheit der Bundeswehr.^[1]