Mainly concerned with themselves: the intelligence service worries the cantons

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Defense Minister Viola Amherd (61) is not having an easy time at the moment. First she has to deal with discussions about a financial hole in the army, which means she even misses the important security conference in Munich. Then the Federal Audit Office’s investigation report into the fuel pump at Ruag causes problems. And now the intelligence service (NDB) is also raising new concerns.

The problem is caused by ourselves. Amherd was never able to make friends with NDB boss Philippe Gaudin (61) and replaced him with Christian Dussey (59), who is now completely overhauling the intelligence service on behalf of Amherd. Management employees had to reapply for their jobs. There are now virtually no employees left in their original position with the correct training period. This creates uncertainty. There were an exceptionally large number of layoffs. There is great dissatisfaction among those who remain.

Even urgent matters were left behind for a long time

Now the cantons are also sounding the alarm, reports the “NZZ”. They work closely with the intelligence service, which is not easy at the moment. The connection to partner services abroad runs via the NDB. The cantons would also not be able to initiate supervisory measures themselves. But since the start of the NDB’s reorganization almost two years ago, the stock exchange has been functioning less and less.

A senior cantonal police officer says the NDB has become a “bottleneck”. Even urgent matters were delayed for an “unreasonably long time”. Due to the many departures, the usual contact persons are often no longer in position and the new ones have to get used to it. And that takes time. The many departures are all the more serious, combined with a major loss of knowledge of the intelligence services.

The intelligence service has not noticed any problems

The NDB defends itself against such accusations in comparison to the “NZZ”: The “deep restructuring” did lead to problems, also in the exchange with the cantons. But despite the transformation, the NDB assured its preventive services to prevent specific threats at all times.

However, the cantons have said it was not a good idea to completely overhaul an intelligence service while it was still in operation. This is to the detriment of daily operations and is a cause for great concern: “The NDB is now more concerned with itself than with operational tasks.” This creates gaps in daily business operations.

Parliament wants to know exactly

The NDB has been holding people back for months: they will be informed again in the spring. But the cantons are not willing to settle for that. The Conference of Cantonal Police Commanders (KKPKS) wants to confront NDB director Dussey with the complaints from the cantons during a meeting and demand that he come up with concrete solutions. The NDB, in turn, refers to a survey conducted among the cantons in mid-January. This was very satisfying.

The parliamentary audit delegation (GPDel) has now also started listening. The NDB’s highest political oversight authority wants to hear from all those responsible next week – and find out what is going on. Ultimately, the reorganization takes place in very geopolitically uncertain times. A functioning secret service would be essential for the security of the country. (dba)

Source:Blick