Legal service in the intelligence service again without a boss

The legal service is a central pillar in the federal intelligence service. Now the chief post is vacant for the second time within a short time. Meanwhile, the signs that the controversial NDB director Christian Dussey will soon be replaced.

The results of the latest employee survey? Catastrophic. The evaluation of your own work by the cantons? Insufficient. The large transformation process? Not completed. The boss? On the jump.

The Federal Intelligence Service (NDB) has been in a crisis for a long time. Now research show that the management of the legal service is already orphaned again. For the second time within a short time. The NDB confirms the facts on request.

Legal service is a central pillar for the legal action of the NDB. The condition of this department has been criticized by the supervisory bodies for a long time.

A vacancy in a problem area

In its activity report 2024, the supervisory authority writes about a detailed examination in its activity report in 2024: In the case of legal services, there is a need for action everywhere or at least there were facts that required « increased attention » as part of the ongoing transformation. « The claims and wishes for the legal service did not meet its previous design and decision -making skills. »

« Legal services and the legal service are one of the topics that have been worried to us for a long time, » says Prisca Fischer, head of the supervisory authority. The necessary resources lacked legal service, and its internal position was not strong enough. This affects the entire intelligence service.

The legal service and other legal service providers in the intelligence service would have to work effectively and appropriately, the supervisory authority says. Clear guidelines that are observed internally are crucial.

If NDB employees did not deal with legal rights, fundamental rights were violated by those affected, the supervisory authority writes. In addition, the intelligence service threatens to lose the trust of the population. However, if the NDB does not fully use the legal framework for its work, Switzerland threatens a security risk.

The supervisor demands “strong personality”

According to Prisca Fischer, the problems in the legal service are not to be blamed exclusively to the transformation process. But this is a challenge for the NDB as a whole that have also strengthened certain problems.

The intelligence service has already implemented some recommendations. In particular, improvements can be seen in personnel management, but this does not yet affect legal service, says Fischer: « A lot more has to happen there. » She hopes that a “strong personality” will take over the vacant management of the legal service.

Despite this weighty vacancy: after all, net fluctuation, which only takes notice of terminations, fell to 7 percent last year (2022: 9.3 percent, 2023: 8 percent). At the end of 2023, the NDB had 438 employees.

A restart that was not one

The deeper fluctuation is one of the rare good news from the intelligence service. The radical conversion of the existing structures and working methods that started in the spring of 2022 has caused a lot of unrest in the NDB in recent years – and for a bad mood.

There was no stone on the other in the NDB. The transformation should make the NDB fit for the new challenges in the cyber area, terrorism or the intensifying geopolitical situation. Clearly delimited departments with different responsibilities should be replaced by thematically defined “Impact Centers”.

Since tasks and profiles had changed significantly, had to apply for the entire NDB management with the exception of director Dussey. The nine -member management team was used on March 1, 2024. This should be an important intermediate stage of the transformation, the implementation phase of which should have been completed by the end of 2024.

Dissatisfied employees, dissatisfied cantons

However, dissatisfaction remained great among the employees. According to « Tages-Anzeiger » In the 2024 employee survey, only 25 percent stated that they were satisfied with the top management – 10 percent less than in 2023.

The cantonal police are also upset. They are primarily “customers” of the NDB in the area of ​​violent extremism. The criticism: unclear responsibilities, missing contact person, late feedback. A survey among the cantonal police showed an insufficient note for the work of the NDB: The evaluation recorded on a scale from 1 to 4 fell from 2.76 in 2023 to 2.65 in 2024.

The problems were not hidden from ex-defense minister Viola Amherd. In the summer of 2024 she ordered her deputy general secretary as a watchdog to the side of NDB director Dussey. Initially, the mandate was limited until the end of October 2024, but was then extended by the end of May 2025.

Dussey, on the other hand, has already announced that he will leave his post at the end of March 2026 at the latest. At the end of February he declared his resignation. He was « tired » that the dissatisfaction of the employees « affects » him.

Dussey could soon be replaced

Actually, Dussey wanted to go at the end of August 2025 – however, Viola Amherd convinced him to pharmage until the next spring. But whether Dussey actually stays in office for so long is questionable. Security politicians from various parties demanded in « Tages-Anzeiger » A faster replacement.

They seem to be open to the new Defense Minister Martin Pfister (center). Already on his third working day, he used a finding commission for the chief position at the intelligence service.

However, the search for a successor for army chief Thomas Süssli, who gives his post at the end of 2025, has not yet officially started.