Swiss intelligence agency ‘hobbled by staff disputes’
The effectiveness of the Swiss intelligence service has been compromised by staffing issues that prompted a reorganisation agency, according to its supervisory body.
Supervisors have noted some serious shortcomings in the personnel administration and management of the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS). As a result, the agency has not always been able to deliver its full performance in recent years.
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“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 for 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.
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“The resources were too weak,” said Fischer. The supervisory authority had found considerable errors in the personnel dossiers of the FIS. In the meantime, an increase in the resources of the support centres in the FIS is underway. This process is taking time.
“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 its view, correct recruitment, support and exit processes are necessary for the FIS to be able to implement the transformation correctly at all.
The supervisory authority’s 2023 activity report 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 Swiss defence ministry 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 newly filled. There are new contacts. It had to “work very hard to gain acceptance of supervision”. Overall, the supervisory authority is of the opinion that the reorganisation of the FIS is necessary, said Fischer. “There is no reserve solution.”
In recent months, various criticisms have been levelled at 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, it announced a month ago in response to an enquiry from the Keystone-SDA news agency.
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 being led by Director Christian Dussey, who has been in office since April 2022.
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Translated from German by DeepL/mga
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