Army Intelligence Office

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AustriaAustria Army Intelligence Office
- HNaA -
HNaA - Badge.png
Supervisory authority (s) Federal Ministry for National Defense (BMLV)
Consist since 1985
Headquarters Vienna
Authority management Major General Edwin Potocnik
Website Army Intelligence Office

The Heeres-Nachrichtenamt ( HNaA ) is the strategic foreign intelligence service of the Republic of Austria and, like its partner service Abwehramt , is subordinate to the Federal Ministry for National Defense (BMLV). The Army Intelligence Agency procures, processes and evaluates information about foreign countries and international organizations. This information serves the highest military and political leadership in Austria ( Federal Government , Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs) as a basis for their decisions.

Legal bases

The primary legal basis for the military intelligence services Heeres-Nachrichtenamt and Abwehramt is the Military Authorities Act (MBG). This not only regulates the powers and tasks, but also stipulates the establishment of a legal protection officer who is not subject to instructions. Section 20 (1) MBG defines the tasks of the intelligence service:

"The intelligence service clarification serves

  • the procurement, processing, evaluation and presentation of information
  • about abroad or
  • through international organizations or
  • other intergovernmental institutions regarding military and related other facts, processes and projects. "

structure

Command building in Vienna-Penzing

The foreign intelligence service is divided into different departments, which include the following areas:

  • guide
  • evaluation
  • Sensors
  • support

The Army Intelligence Office is currently located in the General Theodor Körner command building and in the Maria Theresien barracks in Vienna . The service also maintains some branch offices such as the technical reconnaissance stations in:

The exact number of employees is not known. According to reports, the Army Intelligence Office is also permanently present with employees in crisis regions. From 2003 to 2010 the authority was headed by Major General Fritz Weber. On July 12, 2010 Brigadier Edwin Potocnik was appointed as his successor.

Since 2004, the head of the Army Intelligence Office has been shown directly in the central office of the Ministry of Defense. This means that the service can also be addressed directly to other ministries.

tasks

The Army Intelligence Office is responsible for strategic foreign intelligence. Its employees gather information about regions, states and organizations that are relevant to Austrian security policy. This information is collected, analyzed and processed in the form of reports and presentations (so-called intelligence cycle).

The educational results collected by the HNaA are forwarded to the following consumers:

Detailed threat analyzes of current crises are created as required. This is especially true when it comes to making a decision about Austria's possible participation in international missions. The situation reports from the Army Intelligence Agency play a major role in protecting military contingents and civilian missions abroad. In January 2015, around 1,000 soldiers and around 20 police officers were deployed abroad worldwide.

control

The work of the intelligence service takes place outside the public eye, but under democratic control. The Army Intelligence Office is subject to political and legal control by various public administration bodies, independent organs and courts.

The BMLV's service and technical supervision also applies to the Army Intelligence Service as a public administration service. The head of the Army Intelligence Office is under the supervision of the Chief of Staff.
  • Parliamentary review
The National Council has a permanent sub-committee of the National Defense Committee for parliamentary control of the intelligence service. The task of the standing subcommittee is to review the management of the defense minister with regard to the intelligence measures to ensure national military defense. The meetings are confidential.
  • Legal protection officer
The legal protection officer, who is not subject to instructions, and his two deputies check the legality of intelligence-gathering and defense measures.
The data protection authority can check the legality of the use of data ex officio or upon justified request and request all data required for the necessary clarification or access to data applications or documents.
The Federal Administrative Court recognizes complaints from persons who claim to have violated their rights through the exercise of intelligence measures.
  • Parliamentary Armed Forces Commission
The Parliamentary Armed Forces Commission deals with complaints about alleged deficiencies or ills in the military service area.
The Ombudsman Board examines the Army Intelligence Office within its area of ​​responsibility.

history

The emergence of the military intelligence services in Austria goes back at least to the Napoleonic Wars . From 1802 the first attempts at a structured “military intelligence system” in the Austrian monarchy can be proven. Due to disregard and the associated underfunding, there were no great successes. Nonetheless, the generals recognized the need for intelligence-gathering information and processing it through analysis, which ultimately led to the establishment of the records office in the quartermaster's staff in 1850 .

Developments in the First Republic

The end of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy led to the dissolution of the registry office. At the same time, an intelligence service was set up in the newly created State Office for the Army. Initially referred to as the registry office, it was later named Division 1 / N and was dissolved again in 1920 when the Federal Army of the 1st Republic was established. The Central Evidenzstelle (ZEST) at the Federal Police Directorate in Vienna took over its tasks . Nevertheless, remnants of intelligence tasks in the International Affairs Department remained in the Federal Ministry for the Army. The unsatisfactory results of the ZEST for the generals led to the establishment of a separate intelligence service in 1924. This did not affect the sole responsibility of counter-espionage at ZEST.

The takeover - the Second World War

In the thirties, however, an increasing infiltration by the National Socialists began . After Austria was annexed to the German Reich in 1938, the secret services were also brought into line. The Gestapo took over from then on espionage in Germany, the security service took over the espionage abroad, and the defense took over the military espionage. They were a feared instrument of the National Socialists in Austria too.

Developments in the Second Republic

After the regaining of Austrian sovereignty, an organizational unit for the military intelligence service was again created, first as part of the Office for National Defense in the Federal Chancellery and later in the Federal Ministry of National Defense. In the bipolar, rigid world of the Cold War , the focus was on observing the military developments of foreign armed forces (armaments, technology, organization, (military) strategy, operations, tactics). The purpose was to identify and analyze threats threatening Austrian sovereignty as early as possible. An efficient intelligence service was an essential prerequisite for a credible performance of the duties of a militarily neutral during the bloc confrontation.

In 1972 the name was changed to Army Intelligence Service. In 1985 this was split into two new services: the Army Intelligence Office responsible for foreign countries and the Abwehramt domestic service. The then Defense Minister Friedhelm Frischenschlager was responsible for this . He is said to have been so angry when he found an act about himself in the files of the Army Intelligence Service that he ordered the division and separation of home and abroad. However, internal "calamities" are also repeatedly mentioned as a reason for this step.

The Army Intelligence Office mainly collected information about Austria's eastern neighbors and the Balkans . According to newspaper reports, it is one of the best-informed services in the world in this region. Army agents from the service, which was still differently structured at the time, warned in the spring of 1968 of an intervention by the Warsaw Pact states in the CSSR . NATO intelligence services only saw this as secure when Soviet fighter planes disrupted radar equipment in neighboring countries on August 21st to camouflage the incipient invasion.

The turning point - the end of the Cold War

With the end of the Cold War, the security policy framework changed and with them the role, function and tasks of the intelligence services. The classic, conventional threat to the state from structured armed forces capable of attack was no longer an immediate issue. During the Cold War, the reconnaissance heavyweights were clear and focused only on the military realm of the east. The war in Southeast Europe required the first military deployment of NATO troops on European soil. Further trouble spots arose on the fringes of Europe. Domestic disputes increased, while at the same time, due to technical developments, warning times for stabilizing measures were shortened. New demands on the intelligence service arose due to the changed threat situation from outside and Austria's participation in shaping the European security and defense policy within the EU. The range of operations of the armed forces was therefore subject to major changes. They are now increasingly a political instrument in the context of Austrian security policy abroad. For example, forces of the Federal Armed Forces were or are in action in Bosnia / Herzegovina, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Chad. The contribution to force protection as a task of the intelligence services to protect these foreign contingents from the entire range of sub-conventional forms of threat became massively in importance.

The Army Intelligence Office today

Today, the mission to investigate is global. The threats are extensive and the entire world is a potential area of ​​action. Security and military conflicts are currently emerging on the fringes of Europe. New sub-conventional threats such as terrorism, organized crime, irregular migration, cyber threats and proliferation are the focus of the reporting of the Army Intelligence Office. The task of the HNaA is to warn the Republic of Austria in good time about threats. A constant evaluation of the security concepts and a stronger networking of all security policy actors are therefore essential. At the EU level, the Army Intelligence Office works in conjunction with other intelligence services. The expertise of the HNaA in protecting Austria and Austrian citizens abroad is becoming increasingly important. The HNaA plays a key role in solving kidnapping cases such as B. 2008 in Mali and 2013 in Yemen. The foreign intelligence service also makes a decisive contribution in the background when embassies and tourists need to be evacuated.

public perception

The Army News Office is represented as part of the Federal Ministry for National Defense on its website bundesheer.at . The foreign intelligence service is known for its extensive strategic analysis. Analysts also regularly give presentations at the strategic leadership course.

As a result of the American whistleblower Edward Snowden published NSA documents worldwide started monitoring and spying debate the issue of monitoring was treated in Austria. In this discussion, the Army Intelligence Office recorded the following via press release: "A technical investigation within Austria is excluded due to the legal situation alone and will therefore not be carried out".

In a secret NSA document published by Edward Snowden in November 2013, Austria is listed in a category “Tier B-Focused Cooperation”. The BMLVS granted a "selective cooperation" in the event of an incident between the HNaA and the NSA.

The media speculated about the existence of an alleged secret agreement between the HNaA and the NSA. This topic was also debated in 2013 in the standing sub-committee of the National Defense Committee, which is responsible for monitoring the intelligence services in Austria. After a daily newspaper reported that Austria had concluded a contract with the NSA, a parliamentarian filed a complaint with the public prosecutor's office “for passing on data from the HNaA to the NSA”. The proceedings against unknown perpetrators were broken off in 2014.

Officers in the Army Intelligence Office

Head of the Army Intelligence Office

Deputy Head of the Army Intelligence Service

Head of department in the Army Intelligence Office

Head of Department in the Army Intelligence Office

Current management structure

  • Major General Edwin Potocnik , Head of the Army Intelligence Office
  • Brigadier Manfred Hanzl , deputy Head of HNaA and Head of Management (Fü)
  • Colonel dG Sascha Bosezky, Head of Evaluation Department (Foreign)
  • Currently vacant, Head of Technical Reconnaissance (TA)
  • Colonel dG Christian Haschka, Head of Open Procurement (OBeschfg)
  • Colonel Claus Hermann, Head of Logistics (Log)
  • Colonel Peter Tomp, Head of Command Support (FüU)
  • Colonel Peter Steiner, security policy analyst

literature

  • Markus Purkhart: State Police, Army Intelligence Office and Abwehramt - the Austrian secret services from the perspective of parliamentary transparency and control; a political science analysis of Austrian democracy. Dipl. Arb., Univ. Vienna 1998.
  • Andreas Binder: The Austrian Secret Service in the “Cold War” (1945–90). Dipl.-Arb., Univ. Graz 2004.
  • Ludwig Csépai: "Intelligence history" using the example of Austria after 1945. Dipl.-Arb., Univ. Vienna 2003.
  • Martin Ehrenhauser: The intelligence community of the European Union - an Austrian approach. Dipl.-Arb., Univ., Innsbruck 2007.

Web links

Commons : Heeres-Nachrichtenamt  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Federal Act on Tasks and Powers in the Framework of National Military Defense (Military Authority Act - MBG), Federal Law Gazette I 2000/86 as amended, RIS.
  2. ↑ Google Maps: Users are looking for Army Lauschposten derstandard.at, accessed on July 29, 2014.
  3. ^ Occupation of commanding positions in the Armed Forces press release, bmlv.gv.at, July 12, 2010 (accessed on July 13, 2010).
  4. ↑ BM.I ( www.bmi.gv.at ) and BMLVS ( www.bundesheer.at ) with current numbers of foreign assignments
  5. ↑ Strategic Leadership Course , accessed on July 19, 2015.
  6. ↑ Press release Bundesheer / HNaA OTS0168 from June 14, 2013: "News office important for foreign missions"
  7. ^ "Selective cooperation" between NSA and army derstandard.at
  8. ↑ NSA affair reaches Austrian armed forces. In: wienerzeitung.at. November 4, 2013, accessed May 14, 2019 .