Born on a farm near Chemnitz on the Czechoslovakian border in what was, at the time, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Drafted into the East Germany Army, 1970. Specialized in bomb disposal and demolitions. Assigned to East German Border Patrol, 1971-76. Arrested by the GDR State Security Service (Stasi) in 1976 under suspicion of involvement in several high-profile defections. Released for lack of evidence and discharged from army in 1977. Movements and activities from 1977-84 are unknown. The current German government will neither confirm nor deny rumors that he was a member of the 'Libellen', an underground group held responsible for several bombings of East German governmental offices in and around Berlin in the summer of 1981. Resurfaced in 1985 when he was granted asylum by West Germany after a risky crossing of the Baltic Sea in a small sailboat. Opened Pyrotechno GmbH, a security consulting firm, in 1989. Since then has built his reputation as Germany's leading expert on explosives and demolitions. Married, 1995. Two children. Beckenbauer had an encyclopedic knowledge of all types of explosive devices. Years of working with bombs have made him extremely meticulous. He never overlooks any detail of an operation and leaves nothing to chance. In his relations with the rest of the team, he is liable to be somewhat cold and distant, but only because he is so completely focused on his job that he considers personal interactions between team members to be a dangerous distraction.