The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Fight against Terrorism (BVT) will soon be history. ÖVP and the Greens have completed a draft law by which the organizational units are to be separated. Consequently, the office will in future be called “Directorate for State Security and Intelligence” (DSN), announced Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) and Green Club chairwoman Sigrid Maurer in a press conference on Monday.
The structural and organizational separation should be based on international models. As agreed in the government program, hazard research and defense should be separated from each other, it said. A liaison office, which is located directly at the director, is to ensure the necessary exchange of information.
More staff in the Ministry of the Interior
An independent control commission based on the model of the Human Rights Advisory Council is planned. The ÖVP and the Greens want to guarantee parliamentary control through expanded reporting obligations. Legal protection is to be strengthened by more staff at the legal protection officer in the Ministry of the Interior.
The legal project called “State Security and Intelligence Service Act – SNG” is now to be discussed with the opposition parties. One of the next councils of ministers wants to send the government bill on its way and start the appraisal process. The coalition has made the decision in parliament by the summer, then implementation should start. (apa)