The Swiss intelligence community is a group of agencies with responsibilities to protect the interests and infrastructure of Switzerland.

History

The first federal military secret service was established in 1937-1939 as Büro Ha by Hans Hausamann a few years before the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Up to that point, intelligence gathering was left to the responsibility of the police.

Cold War Intelligence

Not much is known about the Swiss intelligence agencies; however, case files from the Swiss Federal Police have been recently uncovered showing information regarding Swiss intelligence dealing with the People's Republic of China. During this time period of approximately 1960-1980 Switzerland's main goal regarding intelligence was the threat of communism within the country. What was found in the case files, and one way they would combat communism is through the system of ''fiches. Fiches'' was a system of index cards that tracked any sort of anti-patriotic actions performed by anyone in Switzerland. The system seemed to be successful with a recorded 900,000 cards made during the Cold War, and about 25,000 cards made for people of Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese descent. The ultimate goal of ''fiches'' was to ward off any potential communist threats that might cause harm to Switzerland.

Federal Intelligence Service

As of 1 January 2010, there is a new security policy instrument in Switzerland, the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) (german: Nachrichtendienst des Bundes, NDB; french: Service de renseignement de la Confédération, SRC; it, Servizio delle attività informative della Confederazione, SIC; rm, Servetsch da las activitads infurmativs da la Confederaziun, SIC). The new service was created by merging the Service for Analysis and Prevention (DAP) with the Strategic Intelligence Service (SND). Through the use of synergies and consistent adjustment to the needs of the service recipients a powerful intelligence service was created which is adapted to meet modern requirements and which forms the future contact for all levels of the Confederation and the cantons.

Partners and service recipients

The partners and service recipients of the FIS are the political and military leaders, the federal administration, in particular the departments: * Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) * Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) * Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) * Federal Department of Economic Affairs (FDEA). * Important partners are also the cantons, including 84 national security agents engaged by the Confederation. Abroad the FIS maintains contacts to more than 100 intelligence, police and security services throughout the world. These bilateral and multilateral contacts have all been authorised by the Federal Council.

Organization

The FIS's activities and mandate were defined by statute in the Federal Civil Intelligence Act 1997 * the FIS procures security policy relevant information about other countries and evaluates these * the FIS fulfils intelligence tasks relating to domestic security according to the STA * the FIS ensures a comprehensive assessment of the threat situation. And according to the Federal Civil Intelligence Act * the FIS recognises and combats dangers relating to terrorism, illegal intelligence,

violent extremism Violent extremism is a form of extremism that condones and enacts violence with ideological or deliberate intent, such as religious or political violence. Violent extremist views can manifest in connection with a range of issues, including politics ...

and proliferation and * identifies attacks against critical information infrastructure. The thematic and geographic areas of interest are: * In Switzerland these are terrorism and violent extremism, proliferation, attacks against critical infrastructure and illegal intelligence activities. * Abroad, the FIS's thematic areas continue to be proliferation, terrorism, armed forces development, operational areas of our armed forces abroad as well as weapon technology and arms trade. * The geographic areas of interest continue to be Europe, Russia and the CIS states, the Near East and north Africa, the Middle East, Asia, the US and hot spots in Africa.

Publications

The Federal Intelligence Service produces an annual report called ''Switzerland's Security'', available for download on the FIS website. For instance, in September 2020, about the

China–Switzerland relations China–Switzerland relations officially began in 1918.Yufang Zhou, Die Exterritorialitätsrechte der Schweiz in China (1918–1946), Frankfurt am Main und Bern 2003 Relations between the two nations have been excellent, particularly in economic ...

, the report said that:

Budget

In 2017, the FIS' budget was CHF75.6 million.

Other Swiss intelligence agencies

Military Intelligence Service

The Military Intelligence Service (german: Militärischer Nachrichtendienst; french: Service de renseignement militaire; it, Servizio informazioni militare) is the

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from ...

branch of the

Armed Forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

Postal Service and Telecommunications Surveillance

The Postal Service and Telecommunications Surveillance (french: Surveillance de la correspondance par poste et télécommunication, SCPT; german: Überwachung Post- und Fernmeldeverkehr, ÜPF; it, Sorveglianza della corrispondenza postale e del traffico delle telecomunicazioni, SCPT; Romansh: ''surveglianza dal traffic da posta e da telecommunicaziun'', STPT) is a service within the

Federal Department of Justice and Police The Federal Department of Justice and Police (german: Eidgenössisches Justiz- und Polizeidepartement, french: Département fédéral de justice et police, it, Dipartimento federale di giustizia e polizia, rm, ) is one of the seven departmen ...

(since 1 January 2008) charged with coordinating

wiretapping Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitori ...

requests of the criminal investigation authorities.

International cooperation

FIS has collaborated with over 100 foreign intelligence agencies. In 2017, the FIS received approximately 12,500 notifications from foreign intelligence agencies, and sent out 6,000.

Controversies

In 2012, a senior IT technician stole crucial intelligence documents. In 2014, an agent of the Federal Intelligence Services is involved in a hacking case against journalists acting for , the Swiss winemaker.

References

External links

Official website

Strategic Intelligence Service - Official publication
*
Post and Telecommunications Surveillance Service (PTSS) Homepage
{{Authority control

Intelligence agencies An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of informati ...

Intelligence communities