Editing Konrad Adenauer (section)

==Crypto AG==
[[Crypto AG]], founded in 1952 by Boris Hagelin in Steinhausen, Switzerland, was a leading manufacturer of encryption devices used by over 120 countries for secure communications. Declassified documents, notably reported by The Washington Post in 2020, revealed that the CIA and BND secretly purchased Crypto AG in 1970 for $5.75 million (equivalent to $47 million in 2024) under Operation Rubicon. The agencies rigged the company’s devices with backdoors, enabling them to decrypt communications of client nations, including allies and adversaries, until the CIA’s sole ownership ended around 2018. Earlier cooperation with the U.S. began in the 1950s, when Hagelin agreed to restrict sales of advanced models to U.S.-approved countries, a deal facilitated by the CIA and later the NSA.

While the CIA and BND purchased the company in 1970, they had worked together with Hagelin since its creation developing the backdoor capability to spy on unsuspecting governments and all their diplomatic cables (messages). The purchase was necessitated by Hagelin's advanced age and the unlikelihood his son (heir) would continue the spying arrangement. Adenauer was aware of this arrangement as was the US president and both enjoyed the intelligence gathered from over 120 countries using these devices.