Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
abstract:The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution – – is the Federal Republic of Germany's domestic security agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungsschutz (LfV) at the state level, it is tasked with intelligence-gathering on threats concerning the democratic order, the existence and security of the federation or one of its states, and the peaceful coexistence of peoples; with counter-intelligence; and with protective security and counter-sabotage.
TheFederalOfficefortheProtectionoftheConstitution, the domestic intelligence service, thinks 25, 000 people belong to far-right groups, of whom 9, 500 could be violent.
Germany's domestic intelligence service, a postwar creation known as theFederalOfficefortheProtectionoftheConstitution, or Verfassungsschutz, is broadly comparable to the intelligence wing ofthe U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.