“Of course it worries us,” Defence Minister Guy Parmelin told Swiss public radio, SRF, in an interview aired on Saturday’s Heute MorgenExternal link show.
According to the Federal Council’s annual reportExternal link, the number of foreign intelligence officers under diplomatic cover is significant. For example, the Swiss government seriously suspects that among diplomatic staff from one country, at least a quarter have links to their national intelligence service.
The report, published on Wednesday, does not state which country it is, and Parmelin declined to specify when asked by SRF radio.
Several nations deploy “travelling” intelligence officers, according to the government report. These people visit Switzerland for one-off missions. Often, the target country for these operations is not actually Switzerland, but another European state.
Parmelin also told SRF that the Swiss intelligence service was working to combat increasing levels of cyber espionage targeting Swiss interests. He did not give concrete examples of countermeasures, but he noted that Switzerland’s recently updated intelligence law gives the authorities more options.
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