Abteilung III b was the domestic counterintelligence branch of the Imperial German Army from 1889 until the end of the First World War.
Its counter-espionage efforts focused on France and Russia while the Imperial German Navy was responsible for intelligence in the United Kingdom.
At the General Staff, within the News Department, the 'enemy editor' grew more suspicious of information delivered as facts, as the intelligence service's reports often proved to be false.
[citation needed] As the war progressed, Abteilung III b increasingly established itself as a counterintelligence and ultra-nationalist propaganda organization.
The Far-Left press often referred to Colonel Nicolai, the head of the Abteilung, as the "father of lies", among many other things.