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Stasi Covert
The use of radioactive markers by the Stasi
Wolke (English: cloud) was the codename of a secret project, run
from the late 1960s onwards, by Abteilung 32 (department 32) of the
Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS)
— the repressive State Security Service of the former
DDR (East Germany),
also known as Stasi —
to invisibly mark objects, documents
and persons, with radioactive compounds so that they could be
traced. The program was continued throughout the 1970s and 80s,
and was only referred to by its codename Wolke
and related project numbers of substances, equipment and instructions
(e.g. 47100-670).
In the 1970s, at the hight of the project, the Stasi carried out
some 100 Wolke-operations each year, whilst in the 1980s, this was
reduced to about 30 to 50 operations per year [3].
At some point, probably in the early 1980s, the name 'Wolke' disappeared.
It is possible that by that time, the project name had become known to
too many people outside the Stasi, or that the Stasi was afraid that the
name had come to the attention of Western intelligence services.
From then on, the equipment was only referred to by project-numbers
and the substances by key-numbers.
Confusingly, or perhaps deliberately, Stasi department HA III used the
codename 'Wolke' again in 1983, when — together with Polish
counterintelligence — they mounted an operation against the US Embassy
in Warsaw to detect US SIGINT operations in Poland [4].
That is a different operation.
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THIS PAGE IS A STUB —
This page currently acts as a placeholder for background information about
the secret Stasi project 'Wolke'. In due course, we hope to be able to give
a more complete overview of the aspects of this project and the equipment
that was involved. If you have information or equipment that might be
related to this operation, and that can help us to expand this page,
please contact us.
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Related equipment on this website
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Although the use of radioactive markers is one of the most invasive and
harmful methods of intelligence gathering,
the Stasi appeared to be very imaginative
when it came to finding ways in which the technology could be
exploited. Below are a few examples of its modus operandi:
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Tracking and tracing people
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Special equipment was developed for tracing the whereabout of dissidents,
journalist, politicians, suspected foreign agents, etc. Most of this
equipment consisted of a Geiger-counter that had been expanded for
automated use, enabling the Stasi to do active as well as passive detection:
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- Active detection
This application allows, for example, to invisibly count people walking
throug a corridor. By placing a fixed radioactive source behind one wall
of the corridor and aiming it as the Geiger detector which is located
behind the opposite wall, anyone walking through the corridor will
momentarily interrupt the 'beam' and cause the relay to generate a pulse.
- Passive detection
In the same vain it was possible to detect
people or objects that were marked with a radioactive substance.
By placing the detector at a stategic place, the relay will
generate a pulse as soon as the marked person or object passes its probe.
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Methods were in place for placing the marker on a person. A special foil
had been developed that could be attached invisibly to a person's cloating,
and needles were developed — radiated at the Rossendorf nuclear plant —
to enable an operative to place a marker on a passing person [1].
This was not without risk for the subject. For example, when using
Scandium-46 — a popular Stasi marker — the subject could be exposed to as
much as 150 mSv per case, which is as much as 3 × the maximum allowed
dose for one year for a nuclear worker in the US [5].
It is also known that a dose of 100 mSv or
more is clearly linked to an increased risk of cancer [5].
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Discover who has been present at a meeting
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The Stasi used
radioactive markers
to contaminate the floor of a room in which
dissidents would meet, so that each individual visitor could be traced
afterwards. The Stasi-operative who followed the nuclear trace, would keep
sufficient distance to stay under the limit of 1 mSv per week [2].
This may not seem much, but 1 mSv is equivalent to staying in the Fukushima
Exclusion Zone — immediately after the 2011 nuclear disaster — for two weeks [5].
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Tracing of hand-written documents
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The Stasi released ballpoints in which the ink was mixed with a radioactive
isotope. The aim was to place these ballpoints in the hands of dissidents,
who might then use it for writing (potentially compromising) documents.
Once they were sent in the mail, or handed over to other dissidents
or journalists, the Stasi was able to trace the documents
and anyone who had handled them.
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Below is a list of the radioactive compounds that are known to be
used by Stasi as markers on people, floors, documents, money, vehicles
and other objects, as part of Project Wolke.
It is an abstract of the list compiled in 2002 by the authors of
Projectbericht Strahlen [1 p.131-132].
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| Key # | Wolke # | Form | Compound | Isotope | Half-life | Delivered | Used |
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| 47100-010 | 101 | Foil | MnCl2 | 54Mn | 297 d | 6,000 | 970 |
| 47100-020 | 102 | Foil | ScCl3 | 46Sc 4 | 84.1 d | 20,000 | 515 |
| 47100-030 | 103 | Foil | CoCl2 | 58Co | 71.4 d | 25,000 | 11,000 |
| 47100-040 | 104 | Foil | BaCl2 | 140Ba | 12.8 d | 24,000 | 650 |
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| 47100-310 | 105 | Needle | - | 59Fc | 44.5 d | - | 850 |
| 47100-320 | 106 | Needle | - | 58Co | 1.4 d | - | 1,000 |
| 47100-330 | 107 | Needle | - | 110mAg 4 | 252 d | - | 420 |
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| 47100-610 | 108 | Spray | ScCl3 | 46Sc 4 | 84.1 d | 20,000 | 690 |
| 47100-620 | 109 | Spray | CoCl2 | 58Co | 71.4 d | 25,000 | 1,450 |
| 47100-630 | 110 | Spray | BaCl2 | 140Ba | 12.8 d | 24,000 | 850 |
| 47100-640 | 111 | Spray | NaBr | 82Br | 35.34 h | 50,000 | 1,720 |
| 47100-650 | 2 | Spray | NaBr | 82Br | 35.34 h | 48 mio | <3,600 |
| 47100-660 | 2 | Spray | ? | 137Cs 4 | 30 y | ? | ? |
| 47100-670 | 2 | Spray | CoCl2 | 58Co | 71.4 d | 25,000 | <3,200 |
| 47100-680 | 2 | Spray | CsNO3 | 137Cs 4 | 30 y | 25,000 | <2,500 |
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| 47101-010 | 2 | Bullet | - | 110mAg | 252 d | 500 | 500 |
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| 47101-310 | 112 | Paper | MnCl2 | 54Mn | 297 d | 4,000 | 1,040 |
| 47101-320 | 113 | Paper | ScCl3 | 46Sc 4 | 84.1 d | 15,000 | 520 |
| 47101-340 | 115 | Paper | NaJ | 131J | 8.07 d | 15,000 | 1,067 |
| 47101-350 | 116 | Paper | NaBr | 82Br | 35.6 d | 30,000 | 432 |
| 47101-360 | 117 | Paper | CH3COONa | 24Na | 15 h | 20,000 | 507 |
| 47101-370 | 121 | Paper | CoCl2 | 58Co | 71.4 d | 30,000 | ? |
| 47101-380 | 121 | Paper | Thiourea | 14C 3 | 5600 y | ? | 120 Bq |
| 47101-390 | 2 | Paper | CsNO3 | 137Cs 4 | 30 y | 20,000 | <4,300 |
| 47101-400 | 2 | Paper | C10H14O5N2 | H3 3 | 12.3 y | ? | ? |
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| 47101-610 | 2 | Ballpoint | Thiourea | 35S 3 | 87 d | 5,000 | >0.397 nCi |
| 47101-620 | 2 | Ballpoint | PO4 | 32P 3 | 14.3 d | 121.6 | >0.074 nCi |
| 47101-630 | 2 | Ballpoint | PrCl3 | 143Pr 3 | 13.7 d | 2,000 | >0.397 nCi |
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| 47102-010 | 122 | Vehicle | ScCl3 | 46Sc 4 | 84.1 d | 15,000 | 1,500 |
| 47102-020 | 123 | Vehicle | CoCl2 | 58Co | 71.4 d | 30,000 | 3,300 |
| 47102-030 | 124 | Vehicle | Oxalate | 95Nb | 35.2 d | 5,300 | - |
| 47102-040 | 125 | Vehicle | BaCl2 | 140Ba | 12.8 d | 4,000 | - |
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Quantity Delivered and Used in µCi.
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'Wolke' designator unknown (or non-existent).
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Produces Beta radiation (β).
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Produces Beta and Gamma radiation (β, γ).
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Document obtainded from BStU [6] via Detlev Vreisleben [7].
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- Eisenfeld, Auerbach, Weber und Pflugbeil, Projectbericht 'Strahlen'
Einsatz von Röntgenstrahlen und radioaktiven Stoffen durch das MfS gegen Oppositionelle — Fiktion oder Realität?
Hg. BStU, Berlin 2002.
- Iris Schaper, Stasi markierte Opfer mit radioaktiven Stoffen
Website wissenschaft.de.
8 January 2001.
- Stefan Berg, Die Spur der Strahlen
Der Spiegel 12/2000. pp. 30-31.
- Benjamin B. Fisher, Intelligence in Recent Public Literature
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Library. 1999 — 2007.
- Wikipedia, Randall Munroe — Radiation dose chart
Retrieved June 2019.
- Bundesbeauftragte für die Stasi-Unterlagen (BStU) 1
Federal Commissioner for the Stasi-Records.
- Detlev Vreisleben, Personal correspondence
June 2019.
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Thursday 06 June 2019. Last changed: Thursday, 07 March 2024 - 09:15 CET.
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