Evidenzbureau

[citation needed] Towards the end of the 19th century, tensions among the major European powers were rising, leading to increased activities of intelligence services.

This shortage was primarily because the service was part of the Foreign Ministry, which, as an Imperial institution, customarily received only the minimum acceptable amount of financing from the Hungarian side (see also Ausgleich).

In 1903, the agencies of the Russian Empire succeeded in enlisting Colonel Alfred Redl, a General Staff officer and later head of counterintelligence and deputy director (1908-1912) of the Evidenzbureau, as a double agent.

During that war, the Bureau increased in importance; the relatively new task of intercepting radio transmissions was added to its traditional functions (such as mail censorship).

In the last year of the war (1918), the Evidenzbureau – then led by Colonel Maximilian Ronge – along with the domestic intelligence service (Staatspolizei [de]) allegedly[citation needed] employed 300 officers, 50 officials, 400 police agents, 600 soldiers and 600 informants.