Gert-René Polli

Gert-René Polli (born August 10, 1960 in Sankt Paul im Lavanttal ) is an Austrian security officer. From 2002 to 2008 he was head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counter Terrorism (BVT).

Life

Polli grew up in the Carinthian Lavant Valley and initially learned the trade of carpenter, which his father also practiced. With the Armed Forces he completed the secondary school leaving certificate and then the Theresian Military Academy . He was a professional officer in the Austrian Armed Forces and, after various missions abroad, worked in the Army Intelligence Office from 1992 . During this time he did his doctorate in political science at the University of Vienna with the thesis The Visegrad Region in the Light of the Geopolitical Approach after the End of the East-West Confrontation and a Master's degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Civil-Military Relations and Intelligence attained.

In 2002 he was appointed to the Ministry of the Interior by the Austrian Federal Government under the then Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel and charged with reorganizing the State Police. After the reorganization was completed, the state police were transferred to the newly established Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Fight against Terrorism. Polli became the first director of this security agency in 2002, a position he held until 2008.

During his six-year term of office, the BVT was able to establish itself as a security authority with central responsibilities in the field of counter-terrorism and the protection of constitutional institutions at home and abroad as well as counter-espionage. Especially in the area of ​​counter-espionage, conflicts with foreign intelligence services operating in Austria became known repeatedly during his tenure. At the end of his term of office, Polli did not apply for this role of Director BVT. He was replaced by the former head of the EUROPOL terrorism department, Peter Gridling .

From autumn 2008 to November 2009, Polli was head of corporate security at Siemens AG in Munich. While he was working at Siemens, Polli was caught by allegations from his time as head of the BVT that he was said to have had too close contacts with Iran. The attorney general , however, has closed an investigation against Polli lack of suspicion shortly after starting the investigation.

In 2012, Polli founded the company polli-IPS (Intelligence & Public Safety) based in Vienna. The company specialized in countering industrial and industrial espionage and supported companies in their activities in security-critical regions or security-critical situations at home or abroad. All activities of the company, now Polli GmbH, were discontinued on September 1, 2018.

Polli became Honorary Professor of Intelligence and Security Services and Counter-Terrorism at the Ukrainian-American Concordia University in Ukraine on December 1, 2017.

Awards

• 1997: Silver medal for services to the Republic of Austria
• 2007: Great Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria

Web links

• ORF report from July 3, 2013
• Report about Polli at kurier.at
• Interview with Polli

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Biography of G. Polli ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ^ Gert-René Polli: "The largest ejection seat in the republic" Kleine Zeitung, August 11, 2012
3. ↑ The Revenge of the US Agents Focus 46/2009
4. ↑ State Security - Responsible Task Public Security, 01-02 / 2003
5. ↑ Polli-IPS homepage
6. ↑ Prof. Dr. phil. Device. R. Polli - WIUU. Retrieved December 4, 2017 (American English).