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Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD)

Photo: IMAGO/Leon Kuegeler/photothek.de / IMAGO/photothek

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) is extensively restructuring her ministry. She changes management in four departments of the house. This emerges from a letter from Faeser to the more than 2,100 employees of the ministry, which SPIEGEL has received. She is sending two department heads in the cyber and digital areas into temporary retirement at the end of the month.

Faeser justifies the step in the letter by saying that we need to "arm ourselves even more strongly against the current threats and challenges" arising from "ongoing Russian aggression, extremism and a variety of other challenges." With the personnel castling, she wanted to “optimally position the ministry for the second half of the legislative period.”

At the same time, Faeser is increasing the proportion of women heading departments in the Ministry of the Interior to almost half: six out of 13 departments will be in female hands in the future.

  • The mathematician Andreas Könen

    , who has headed the cybersecurity department since 2018 and has earned a reputation in Berlin as a knowledgeable and approachable specialist,

    will now be retiring .

    He was previously deputy head of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) in Bonn and was repeatedly considered a possible head of the authority.

  • Faeser now wants to name

    Friederike Dahns

    as Könen's successor . The minister writes that she has developed a reputation as an “experienced security expert,” particularly in counterintelligence.

  • Pia Karger

    , the previous head of the “Digital Society” department,

    will also be retiring .

    Her successor will be Faeser's confidante and SPD man

    Martin von Simson

    , who previously headed the central department.

  • Simson's position will go to

    Eva-Lotta Gutjahr

    , who previously headed the constitutional law department in the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The former President of the Berlin Regional Court,

    Gabriele Nieradzik

    , should take this position

    . She has since worked in the Federal Ministry of Justice and is a member of the SPD's Federal Arbitration Commission.

A new start after a botched Hesse election

Internally it is said that Faeser wants to bring new impetus to the ministry with the personnel castling. After her clear defeat in the Hesse election last fall, Faeser gave up the state chairmanship of the SPD and now wants to concentrate entirely on her job as Federal Minister of the Interior.

The SPD politician has a whole series of projects on her list that she would like to get through the Bundestag during the remaining term of office. This includes expanded powers for the federal authorities to defend against cyber attacks, but also other projects such as the Democracy Promotion Act and a tightening of gun laws. However, these two projects face considerable resistance from the FDP.

In mid-February, Faeser also announced a 13-point plan against right-wing extremism. For example, the authorities should be given more opportunities to examine financial flows and dismantle extremist networks. In order to better counter disinformation campaigns from Russia and other countries, the ministry wants to introduce a new “early detection unit”.

At the same time, Faeser is trying to have further migration agreements negotiated so that countries of origin can reliably take back rejected asylum seekers. By the next Prime Minister's Conference in June, Faeser should also explain under what conditions asylum procedures in third countries outside the European Union could be an option.