Ursel Lorenzen

Ursel Lorenzen (married name Sturm) was formerly a West German NATO Secretary, who defected to East Germany in 1979.[1][2][3]

Lorenzen (second from left) 1980, at a press conference

After working as a NATO aide for 12 years, where she last worked as a secretary to the British Director for NATO operations, Lorenzen, along with her lover at the time (Dieter Will, the manager of the Brussels Airport Hilton), disappeared. She appeared soon afterward on an East German propaganda broadcasting, and eventually compromised NATO war plans.[4][5] At the time, Lorenzen's defection was considered to be NATO's greatest espionage case.[6] She eventually married Dieter Will, and they took the name "Sturm". They lived in East Germany until September 1990, when German reunification was imminent. Aware of West German warrants for their arrest, they fled the country. Charges against Lorenzen were dropped in 1999.

As of December 1999, Lorenzen was believed to be living in Libya.[7]

References
  1. Hamburger Abendblatt article "Was die NATO-Spionin Lorenzen wirklich wusste" (What the NATO Spy Lorenzen really knew), 18 April 1979(in German)
  2. Hamburger Abendblatt article "Ursel sah alles, was der NATO teuer war" (Ursel saw everything that was of value to NATO), 10 April 1980(in German)
  3. Pittsburgh Press, March 9, 1979, page A5
  4. Nigel West, "The A to Z of Sexpionage" (pg 161), September 16, 2009, Scarecrow Press, ISBN 9780810870642
  5. Spiegel Magazine, Das Ende einer Flucht (The End of a Flight), March 19, 1979 (in German)
  6. "Spy Mania Grips Bonn After Defection", Michael Gettler, The Washington Post, March 14, 1979
  7. Focus Magazine, Dann wird man von großer Unruhe ergriffen (Then one will be gripped by great anxiety), December 13, 1999 (in German)
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