The online portal “Intelligence Online”, which specializes in secret services, recently wrote this. Experts also believe that a further restriction of cooperation between Western secret services and Austria is possible if the FPÖ participates in the government. However, important reports in the event of imminent danger, such as terror warnings, would be shared in any case.
“There are these concerns, it has been reported from several quarters,” security policy expert Nicolas Stockhammer confirmed in an interview. “The distrust of the FPÖ’s possible government participation is understandable in that there was the big BVT raid in 2018, where confidential data from friendly services also became the subject of court hearings or investigations,” says the terrorism and extremism researcher at Donau- University of Krems.
Fears over “affinity with Russia”
A second factor is the “affinity for Russia” that is said by parts of the FPÖ, so that there is a fear that sensitive information relating to Russia and the Ukraine war could be leaked or that people could be roped in as “accomplices of the Kremlin”. Of course, there is the possibility that the party will “clearly define itself and prove that these concerns are not justified.” At the Bern Club, the informal association of European intelligence services, “everything works on a basis of trust.”
FPÖ government participation is “not conducive to trust”, but Swiss intelligence expert Adrian Hänni does not believe that there will be another break with the Bern Club like in 2018/2019. The historian from the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich currently sees the situation in Austria as “not quite as dramatic,” as he told the APA. The cooperation between the secret services takes place in committees “where no political signals are sent.” The only criterion is “whether you trust the other person that the information is safe.”
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Hänni sees “a completely different starting point” here than after the raid on the former Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Combating Terrorism (BVT) in 2018. The subsequent security review by the Bern Club revealed “horrendous security deficiencies” in the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
In addition, the American services already knew in 2017 that there was a leak in the BVT, says Hänni about the Egisto Ott case. The security deficiencies have now been “largely remedied”. Stockhammer also adds that a lot of trust has been regained through the reorganization of state security in the Directorate for State Security and Intelligence (DSN).
Delays in disseminating information
According to Hänni, in the intelligence cooperation of the Bern Club, which includes the 27 EU states plus Switzerland and Norway, there are “gradations as to what information is shared and what is not.” Even today, Austria is unlikely to be “completely enclosed”. For example, not all information about Russian spies and methods of “Russian sleepers” as well as sensitive questions about Russia or the war in Ukraine are made available to Austria, the expert suspects. It is entirely possible that “even less information will be shared” in the future. Delays in the transfer of information are also conceivable.
A graduated distribution of information does not only apply to Austria. Not all information is shared with Hungary either, especially sensitive communications related to Russia or China, intelligence expert Thomas Riegler recently reported on the Ö1 program “Point One”. The same situation exists in Slovakia. “Both governments are on the sidelines in terms of security policy in Europe.”
Austria is “dependent” on international cooperation in the intelligence sector, emphasizes Stockhammer. For example, Austria is dependent on “outside help” when it comes to accessing closed messenger service communication or undermining online services such as Telegram. This was evident, for example, in warnings about possible attacks on the Rainbow Parade last year and St. Stephen’s Cathedral around Christmas as well as the Taylor Swift concert in August.
“In all three examples, information from friendly intelligence services meant that these terrorist attack plans could be stopped in advance,” explained Stockhammer.
Austria “will not be excluded”
Both Hänni and Stockhammer are convinced that Austria would continue to receive such danger reports in any case. The Swiss expert expects that Austria will “not be excluded” in the area of terrorism, radicalized threats, and exchanges on methods of combating terrorism and extremism. Even “enemies” are warned about impending terrorist attacks. Stockhammer recalls the US warning about the attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall in a suburb of Moscow in March. Only Russia apparently didn’t take the warning seriously.
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