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Diplomat to take over Swiss intelligence service

Christian Dussey and former Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter
Christian Dussey (left) talking to former Swiss foreign minister, Didier Burkhalter, at an international conference on European security in Geneva. (Archive picture). Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott

The government has appointed Christian Dussey as new chief of the Swiss intelligence service.

The 55-year-old diplomat will take up his post next April and replace Jean-Philipp Gaudin who stepped down last August.

Dussey has been Swiss ambassador to Iran since December 2020. During his professional career he worked for the former military intelligence service and held various positions in the foreign ministry, according to a government press release on Wednesday.

He was also director of the Geneva Centre for Security PolicyExternal link between 2013–2021 and he is a general staff member of the Swiss armed forces.

His predecessor at the helm of the intelligence service left his post after just two years in office.

He came in for criticism about his handling of a scandal about a Swiss manufacturer of cyber-security and encryption equipment, apparently jointly owned by the CIA and the German secret service.

The Federal Intelligence Service is part of the defence ministry and had about 350 employees last year according to official figures.

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