TheDirectorate General for Public Security (Generaldirektion für die öffentliche Sicherheit, "GD" or "GDföS") is the governing body of generallaw enforcement inAustria and a division of theMinistry of the Interior. It oversees the
The Directorate General was first established in 1930 as a division of the Chancellery. After the annexation ofAustria into Nazi Germany, Heinrich Himmler ordered the organization's dissolution.[1] The Directorate General was restored following the end of Nazi rule, but did not gain back control of most police forces until the Transition of Authorities Act 1945, when the authorities, offices and other institutions of the German Reich in Austria were dissolved and the Austrian authorities re-established.[2]
On March 31, 2019, Director General Michaela Kardeis resigned from her position. Reinhard Schnakl took over the position on an interim basis after the actual deputy Franz Lang (former Director of the Criminal Intelligence Service Austria) went on a sick leave.[3]
Ensuing theIbiza affair in 2019, Interior MinisterHerbert Kickl moved to appointPeter Goldgruber, with whom he had close ties, Director General on 20 May.[4] The affair marked the likely collapse of theCabinet and as the Director General is a career civil servant position that transcends political leadership changes, appointing Goldgruber would have allowed Kickl andhis party to retain control over law enforcement while no longer being in power themselves. However, Goldgruber's appointment required presidential confirmation (otherwise he would only hold the position's powers and duties but not the position itself) but PresidentVan der Bellen declined to approve the appointment.[5] On 22 May, Van der Bellen removed Kickl from office on the request of ChancellorSebastian Kurz and Kickl's successorEckart Ratz dismissed Goldgruber a few days later.[6]
On July 1, 2020, Franz Ruf was inaugurated as the new Director General.[7] He still holds this office today (June 2025).[8]
The Federal Police is the primary civilianlaw enforcement agency of Austria, responsible for ordinarypolicing andborder control. It succeeded theGendarmerie, the Guard Corps, the Detective Corps, and the urban police forces in 2005.
In November 2021, the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced that, as part of a major reform of the central office of the Ministry of the Interior, a further group is to be set up in the Directorate General for Public Security called the Federal Police Directorate (Austrian German:Bundespolizeidirektion,BPD). However, this is not planned as a new management level above the provincial police directorates, but as a contact point for them.[9] Due to the reform, the Federal Police has been a separate organizational unit since Juli 2022.[10]
The Federal Police is organised into nine police directorates, one for eachstate, and a dozen autonomous police units. Police commands serve as the elementary divisions of the Federal Police and operate onmunicipality or precinct level; they either report to one of the nine police directorates or to a precinct authority. The police commands ofVienna, the state capitals, and the other major urban centers are subject to the operational direction of the police directorates, while most rural area police commands serve under precinct authorities. The police directorates are headed by commissioners who report directly to the minister of the interior.
Directorate for Special Units/Special Intervention Unit Cobra
Several organizational units belong to the Directorate for Special Units/Special Intervention Unit Cobra (Austrian German:Direktion für Spezialeinheiten/Einsatzkommando Cobra,DSE):[11]
OBS (Central Observation): Deployed in terrorist situations, organized crime, serious crime, drug trafficking and drug smuggling.[12]
ESD (IEDD Unit): Detection and defusing of objects suspected of containing explosives.[13]
Airborn Police: Conducts airborne operations to support theFederal Police with criminal matters, major events, and traffic control. It also assists fire fighters when needed and carries out search and rescue missions for the Civil Aviation Authority. The Airborn Police is also in close cooperation with the European border agencyFrontex.[14]
CBRN-CC (CBRN-Competence-Center): Responsible for all matters relating to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards.[15]
Directorate State Protection and Intelligence Service
The Directorate State Protection and Intelligence Service (Austrian German:Direktion Staatsschutz und Nachrichtendienst,DSN) is the primary civiliansecurity agency of Austria.[16] It is divided into the areas of threat research and threat prevention.[16]
The responsibilities are the protection of:
constitutional institutions and their ability to act as well as representatives of foreign states,international organizations and other subjects of international law in accordance with obligations under international law,
the population againstterrorist, ideologically or religiously motivated crime, against threats fromespionage, intelligence activities andproliferation.
All official communication with foreign police and judicial authorities is handled by the Criminal Intelligence Service Austria. TheInterpol national central office, theEuropol national office and the liaison officer office in The Hague are therefore also located there.[17]
