The threat of terrorism in Switzerland remains high. This is stated by the Federal Council in a report published on Wednesday about the security situation in Switzerland. Attacks by individuals or small groups with little logistical effort are most likely.
One detail in the report makes you sit up and pay attention: For the first time, the federal government is counting political extremists as terrorist threats. That’s new. While the danger, according to the federal government, is still characterized by jihadists – especially the terrorist militia IS and Al Qaeda – left- and right-wing extremists are currently engaged in “activities in the direction of terrorism” in several European countries.
Neo-Nazis in particular have repeatedly committed fatal attacks in recent years. Most recently, a right-wing extremist shot and killed two LGBTQ people in Slovakia’s capital Bratislava in mid-October. In Switzerland, the level of violence by political extremists is so far below the terror threshold, but there are also isolated indications of a trend towards terrorism.
In last year’s report, the Federal Council warned: “The far-right and left-wing scenes could increase the use of violence. They could create terrorist groups.” Even if the motivation within these groups is lacking, the potential for violence and the technical knowledge to do this is there.
Trauma chips scandal
The fact that the federal government is now also treating political extremists in the terrorism category has not only to do with the amplification of the two scenes, it may also have political reasons. VBS boss Viola Amherd (60) is currently working on the revision of the Intelligence Service Act. The security authorities will be given stricter instruments to monitor violent right- and left-wing extremists.
Until now, the intelligence agency has been prohibited from tapping the phones and computers of militant political activists. This is only possible in the event of terrorist threats, in which only Islamists are currently involved. Violent extremism is exempt from electronic surveillance measures. The reason for this is the fichen scandal: in the 1980s, Swiss state security spied and spied several hundred thousand people. In response, the feelers of the Secret Service were clipped.
Amherd now wants to reverse this. The left are against, the bourgeois for it. Parliament then decides.