The Federal Government cannot provide any details regarding how many former federal civil servants register employment outside the public sector in security-relevant positions. This was reported by the Tagesspiegel, citing a response from the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) to a written inquiry from the Green parliamentary group.
The Ministry also acknowledged it has no knowledge of how many of these submitted applications were approved or rejected. The BMI explained that these figures are not statistically tracked nationwide, nor are they automatically available. A recent debate erupted concerning the activities of former officials-who possess potential access to sensitive contacts or information-following the arrest of August Hanning, the former president of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND).
Marcel Emmerich, the Green parliamentary group’s spokesperson for internal affairs, sharply criticized the apparent lack of data, especially given the allegations against Hanning. Emmerich told the Tagesspiegel that the Hanning case is “exemplary of a problem about which the Federal Government clearly doesn’t have an overview of the scope or doesn’t want to give one.” Hanning was accused of acquiring confidential international intelligence information using his former role as BND chief and subsequently using that data for private consultancy work, allegedly including sensitive analyses for foreign powers.
Emmerich further noted that the BMI “cannot even say how many security-relevant activities of former civil servants were registered, approved, or prohibited,” pointing to a disturbing security gap. In its reply, the BMI stated that determining such figures would require reviewing the personnel files of all retired officials-a departmental inquiry that cannot be completed within the one-week deadline for responding to written questions. However, in 2021, the BMI had previously listed partial figures for the period from 2014 to 2021 in response to a request nearly identical to this one. During that period, 186 such activities were reported, and nine were prohibited.
Emmerich thus called upon Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) to “finally contribute to the elucidation.” The Green politician stressed that civil service law must finally be tightened and that there needs to be consistent control, particularly over former senior officials within security agencies.
