Reinhard Gehlen

Gehlen's record is not one of public honours but of institutional consequence. He built an intelligence service from the wreckage of another, negotiated his own survival with the Americans, and led West Germany's foreign intelligence agency for its first twelve years. His estimates of Soviet strength were often more accurate than his superiors wanted, a professional distinction that carried no medals. The scholarly attention his career still draws, including declassified records and later books, is the closest thing to recognition his work has received.