Supervisory authority identifies shortcomings in personnel policy in the intelligence service
Published: Tuesday, Mar 26th 2024, 12:31
Updated At: Tuesday, Mar 26th 2024, 12:11
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According to the supervisory authority, there are some serious shortcomings in the personnel management and leadership of the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS). As a result, the authority has not always been able to provide its full service in recent years.
"I have the impression that it was very difficult for the FIS to be fit on all fronts," Prisca Fischer, head of the independent supervisory authority of the Federal Intelligence Service (AB-ND), told the media in Bern on Tuesday. The intelligence service had been struggling with internal problems for far too long.
"The resources were too weak," said Fischer. The supervisory authority had found considerable errors in the FIS personnel dossiers. In the meantime, an increase in the resources of the supporting offices in the FIS is underway. This process is taking time.
Many new employees
"It doesn't look too bad now - let's hope that's enough." The AB-ND wants to continue to keep an eye on personnel security - in their opinion, correct recruitment, support and exit processes are necessary for the FIS to be able to implement the transformation correctly at all.
The 2023 activity report of the supervisory authority states that various recommendations have been issued regarding documentation in personnel dossiers, the conduct of employee interviews and personnel appraisals and the definition of the procedure for clarifications regarding employees in particularly critical situations. The Department of Defense is responsible for implementing the recommendations.
The transformation of the intelligence service is also a challenge for supervision, said Fischer. Many functions at all hierarchical levels have been reassigned. There are new contacts. She had to "work very hard on the acceptance of supervision". Overall, the supervisory authority is of the opinion that the reorganization of the FIS is necessary, said Fischer. "There is no reserve solution."
Increasing risk of espionage
In recent months, there have been various criticisms of the personnel management of the FIS. In mid-February, the "NZZ am Sonntag" published internal documents from the intelligence service. According to these documents, its employees had no confidence in their management. In 2022, there were also almost three times as many redundancies as usual.
The FIS hopes to counteract this uncertainty. The administration is undergoing a transformation process with the aim of clarifying issues relating to management, structures, working methods and personnel policy, he told the Keystone-SDA news agency a month ago.
The AB-ND writes in its activity report that employees could pose security risks such as betrayal, data theft or espionage for the FIS. Dissatisfied employees are also potentially more likely to leave the service. These risks have increased in recent years.
The FIS stated a month ago that the agency had internal security measures in place to prevent the outflow of classified information, for example. The transformation of the intelligence service is led by Director Christian Dussey, who has been in office since April 2022.
©Keystone/SDA
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