Overview
- Hessian Interior Minister Roman Poseck announced on Thursday that the Landesamt für Verfassungsschutz will set up a new Spionageabwehr (espionage) department plus an Operative Aufklärung unit and a competence centre for economic, science and authority protection.
- Officials said the reorganisation responds to a measurable rise in foreign espionage, cyber operations, sabotage, disinformation and drone incidents that target Hessen’s critical infrastructure and political processes.
- The LfV will add specialist staff in selected roles but will not significantly increase its roughly 390 positions because of the state’s constrained budget.
- Authorities singled out Russia as the main source of recent hybrid activity, reported a projected doubling of Russia-linked suspicion cases and a predicted more than 45% rise in Iran-related cases, and cited a recent Frankfurt espionage prosecution and a drone attack in Leipzig as concrete examples.
- The rework aims to shorten decision lines and speed responses to threats to sites such as Frankfurt Airport and the DE-CIX internet hub, and it could prompt tighter security rules for research, industry and transport if incident numbers continue to rise.