Verfassungsschutz in Brandenburg

Protection of the Constitution

The Länder are responsible for "Verfassungsschutz"

There is no centralized agency for the Protection of the Constitution in Germany. In this field, as in many others, Germany reveals its federal structure. (Legal foundations).
Apart from the 16 Länder agencies for the Protection of the Constitution (in some Länder, agencies are part of the Ministry of the Interior, other Lander have independent Verfassungsschutz offices), there is a federal agency situated in Cologne. It is not superior to any of the Länder agencies but has the task to coordinate Verfassungsschutz activities (Other intelligence services).

Department V in the Ministry of the Interior<

The Agency for the Protection of the Constitution in Brandenburg is the Ministry of the Interior (§ 2 BbgVerfSchG). For this task, it maintains a special department. Department V is subdivided into seven branches:

1. Inner organization, technology
2. Law, protection of the individual against infringement of his/her rights through storage of computerized data, "G 10"-(restrictions on privacy of telecommunication and mail) supervisor
3. Political Extremism (principles and prevention), communication
4. Political Extremism (operational analysis), systems of computerbased information and situation-analysis
5. Political Extremism (open and undercover operations)
6. Counter-Intelligence, material and personal protection of classified information
7. Observation

This current form of organization is the result of a restructuring process. Optimizing the work of "Verfassungsschutz" is a constant and continious process. We aim to speed up work and the flow of information.
Specifically, branches 5 and 7, which gather information, will recieve more staff. Branch 3, which is responsible for this website, informs the public about the work of "Verfassungsschutz" and seeks to communicate with all interested groups and individuals.