Overview

• Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt plans to inform staff on Monday by letter, with a cabinet sign-off possible on Wednesday, according to multiple reports.
• The decision ends a months-long vacancy that began after Thomas Haldenwang left, with Selen and Silke Willems running the office on an interim basis.
• As vice president since 2019, Selen has overseen the agency’s operational work, focusing on counter-espionage and cyber defence.
• He would be the first Verfassungsschutz chief not born in Germany, having been born in Istanbul and raised in Cologne.
• Selen inherits the legally contested AfD classification and has floated reshaping the service into a stronger ‘Abwehrdienst’ as Dobrindt signals more resources and powers.