740.00119 Control (Germany)/4–1549: Telegram
The Acting United States Political Adviser for Germany (Riddleberger) to the Secretary of State
541. Text of Military Governors’ letter to Parliamentary Council defining federal police power is quoted below. This communication was approved by Military Governors on 14 April and given to PC representatives same day.
“As we informed you in the aide-mémoire of 22 November 1948,1 the powers of the federal government in the police field would be limited to those expressly approved by the Military Governors during the occupation period and thereafter as defined by international agreement. The Military Governors have now agreed the following:
- 1.
- The federal government will be permitted to establish
without delay federal law enforcement and police agencies in
the fields of:
- a.
- Control over movement of persons and goods across the frontiers of the federal state;
- b.
- The collection and dissemination of police information and statistics;
- c.
- The coordination of the investigation of violations of federal laws and the implementation of international responsibilities in such fields as narcotics, international travel and crime compacts.
- 2.
- The federal government will also be permitted to establish an agency to collect and disseminate information concerning subversive activities directed against the federal government. This agency shall have no police authority.
- 3.
- The powers, jurisdiction, and functions of each federal law enforcement or police agency to be established shall be defined by federal law which shall be subject to the disapproval of the Military Governors; provided that no federal police agency shall have command authority over any Land or local police agency.
- 4.
- Each federal police agency shall be subject, so long as they are applicable, to such provisions, particularly in respect of effectives, [Page 243] as the Military Governors may prescribe pursuant to the powers reserved to the occupation authorities under the occupation statute.
- 5.
- If the Parliamentary Council or the federal government should propose other federal law enforcement or police agencies, such proposals shall be submitted to the Military Governors for their approval, subject to the provisions of paragraphs 3 and 4 hereof.”
Sent Department 541, repeated Paris 200, London 217.