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| (in German) Nachrichtendienst des Bundes (in French) Service de renseignement de la Confédération (in Italian) Servizio delle attività informative della Confederazione (in Romansh) Servetsch d'infurmaziun da la Confederaziun | |
 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Federal administration of Switzerland |
| Employees | 438[1] |
| Minister responsible | |
| Parent agency | Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports |
| Website | www.fis.admin.ch |
TheSwiss intelligence community is a group of agencies with responsibilities to protect the interests and infrastructure ofSwitzerland.[2]
TheFederal Intelligence Service (FIS), the country's main intelligence agency, is governed by theIntelligence Service Act.
The first federal military secret service was established in 1937-1939 asBüro Ha byHans Hausamann[3] a few years before the outbreak of theSecond World War. Up to that point, the responsibility for intelligence gathering was left to the police.[4]
Not much is known about the Swiss intelligence agencies; however, case files from theSwiss Federal Police have been recently uncovered showing information regarding Swiss intelligence dealing with thePeople's Republic of China. During this time period of approximately 1960-1980 Switzerland's main goal regarding intelligence was the threat of communism within the country. What was found in the case files, and one way they would combat communism is through the system offiches. Fiches was a system of index cards that tracked any sort of anti-patriotic actions performed by anyone in Switzerland. The system seemed to be successful with a recorded 900,000 cards made during the Cold War, and about 25,000 cards made for people of Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese descent. The ultimate goal offiches was to ward off any potential communist threats that might cause harm to Switzerland.[5]
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As of 1 January 2010, there is a new security policy instrument in Switzerland, theFederal Intelligence Service (FIS) (German:Nachrichtendienst des Bundes, NDB;French:Service de renseignement de la Confédération, SRC;Italian:Servizio delle attività informative della Confederazione, SIC;Romansh:Servetsch da las activitads infurmativs da la Confederaziun, SIC). The new service was created by merging the Service for Analysis and Prevention (DAP) with the Strategic Intelligence Service (SND). Through the use of synergies and consistent adjustment to the needs of the service recipients a powerful intelligence service was created which is adapted to meet modern requirements and which forms the future contact for all levels of the Confederation and the cantons.
The partners and service recipients of the FIS are the political and military leaders, the federal administration,in particular the departments:
Abroad the FIS maintains contacts to more than 100 intelligence, police and security services throughout the world. These bilateral and multilateral contacts have all been authorised by the Federal Council.
The FIS's activities and mandate were defined by statute in the Federal Civil Intelligence Act 1997[6]
And according to the Federal Civil Intelligence Act[7]
The thematic and geographic areas of interest are:
The Federal Intelligence Service produces an annual report calledSwitzerland's Security, available for download on the FIS website.[8]
For instance, in September 2020, about theChina–Switzerland relations, the report said that:[9][10]
The gap between the Western liberal model and China's authoritarian state capitalism will widen further. Reports on the regime's propaganda, disinformation campaigns, censorship and severe repression of its opponents in Hong Kong and ethnic minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang mark the growing international perception of the threat posed by China.
In 2017, the FIS' budget wasCHF75.6 million.[1]
The Military Intelligence Service (German:Militärischer Nachrichtendienst;French:Service de renseignement militaire;Italian:Servizio informazioni militare) is themilitary intelligence branch of theArmed Forces.
The Postal Service and Telecommunications Surveillance (French:Surveillance de la correspondance par poste et télécommunication, SCPT;German:Überwachung Post- und Fernmeldeverkehr, ÜPF;Italian:Sorveglianza della corrispondenza postale e del traffico delle telecomunicazioni, SCPT;Romansh:surveglianza dal traffic da posta e da telecommunicaziun, STPT) is a service within theFederal Department of Justice and Police (since 1 January 2008) charged with coordinatingwiretapping requests of the criminal investigation authorities.
FIS has collaborated with over 100 foreign intelligence agencies.[1] In 2017, the FIS received approximately 12,500 notifications from foreign intelligence agencies, and sent out 6,000.[1]
In 2012, a senior IT technician stole crucial intelligence documents.[11]
In 2014, an agent of the Federal Intelligence Services was involved in a hacking case against journalists[12] acting forDominique Giroud [fr], a Swiss winemaker.
The Swiss intelligence agency has been accused of transmitting sensitive information to Russia between 2015 and 2020.[13]
In 2025, theE.U. sanctioned Swiss citizen and ex-intelligence OfficerJacques Baud for "acting as a mouthpiece forpro-Russian propaganda and making conspiracy theories".[14][15]
