Consulate General of the United States, Frankfurt
{{Infobox official post
| post = Consulate General of the United States, Frankfurt
| image = 911 Memorial at U.S. Consulate General Frankfurt, Presenting colors.jpg
| incumbent = Brian Heath
| website = https://de.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulates/frankfurt/
| native_name = US-Generalkonsulat Frankfurt
| insignia = U.S. Department of State official seal.svg
| insigniasize = 120px
| insigniacaption = Seal of the United States Department of State
| incumbentsince = August 2024
| department = United States Department of State
| style = Consul General
| appointer = President of the United States
}}{{Short description|US consular post in Germany}}
The Consulate General of the United States in Frankfurt am Main represents the interests of the United States government in Frankfurt, Germany, and nearby surrounding areas. It is the largest Consulate General of the US. It is more extensive regarding personnel and facilities than many US embassies. Although technically a part of Mission Germany and reporting through the Embassy of the United States in Berlin, the Frankfurt Consulate General operates with a significant degree of autonomy compared to other U.S. Consulates. This is partly due to several large U.S. government regional centers housed within the Consulate, which provide support in security, construction, and financial matters to several other U.S Diplomatic posts located throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
In 2006 the Frankfurt Consulate General relocated almost all its operations to a single facility. The former 97th General Hospital, Frankfurt Army Regional Medical Center, was once operated by the U.S. military and before that by the German military during World War II. The refurbished and now modified building is quite large and expansive. The Frankfurt Consular district covers the German states of Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg, and Saarland.
Use by intelligence agencies
{{Expand section|date=March 2017}}
File:911 Memorial at U.S. Consulate General Frankfurt, Presenting colors.jpg was taking place]]
In March 2017, a series of documents, referred to as Vault 7, revealed that the US government uses the consulate as a base for cyber operations. This diplomatic representation was the largest US consulate worldwide regarding personnel and facilities and has played a prominent role in the US government's intelligence architecture for years. The intelligence personnel, including CIA agents, NSA spies, military secret service personnel, the US Department of Homeland Security employees, and the Secret Service employees are working in the building complex with high walls and barbed wire in the north of the city. In a radius of about 40 kilometers around Frankfurt, the Americans had established a dense network of outposts and shell companies in Frankfurt. Vault 7 documents reveals the Frankfurt hackers, part of the Center for Cyber Intelligence Europe (CCIE), were given cover identities and diplomatic passports to obfuscate customs officers to gain entry to Germany.{{cite web|title=WikiLeaks releases 'entire hacking capacity of the CIA'|url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/wikileaks-releases-entire-hacking-capacity-of-the-cia/|work=Fox News|author=Cody Derespina|date=7 March 2017|access-date=7 March 2017|archive-date=28 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428100337/http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/03/07/wikileaks-releases-entire-hacking-capacity-cia.html|url-status=live}}John Goetz, Frederik Obermaier: [http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/wikileaks-frankfurter-us-generalkonsulat-soll-spionagezentrale-sein-1.3409364 (8)Frankfurter US-Konsulat soll Spionagezentrale sein - Politik] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170601105126/http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/wikileaks-frankfurter-us-generalkonsulat-soll-spionagezentrale-sein-1.3409364 |date=2017-06-01 }}, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 7 March 2017 The CIA station, in the consulate, is said to also collect Iranian intelligence in Europe, surveil on Iranian officials and target possible defectors who work in Iran's nuclear weapons program.{{cite news|last1=Walcott|first1=John|last2=Shalal|first2=Andrea|title=U.S. officials aware of CIA security breach in 2016, say WikiLeaks papers authentic|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cia-wikileaks-idUSKBN16F2AP|access-date=8 March 2017|work=Reuters|date=Mar 8, 2017|archive-date=8 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308182116/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cia-wikileaks-idUSKBN16F2AP|url-status=live}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://de.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulates/frankfurt/ Official U.S. Consulate General Frankfurt web page]
{{US diplomatic missions}}
{{Diplomatic missions in Germany}}
{{Authority control}}
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Category:Germany–United States relations
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