The Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (DSN), Austria’s primary domestic intelligence body, has been struck by a scandal after an employee was accused of having passed secret information to a proscribed Islamist terror group, the Muslim Brotherhood.
The organization is officially designated as anti-constitutional in Austria, and one that the DSN itself is tasked with identifying, monitoring, and countering.
The man, who was temporarily assigned to the agency, reportedly maintained contact with members of the Muslim Brotherhood while working in a department responsible for counter-espionage and extremist threat assessment, Exxpress reported.
After weeks of surveillance, investigators confronted him following a meeting with Brotherhood representatives. He was immediately suspended and now faces prosecution for intelligence activities detrimental to the Republic of Austria.
DSN officials sought to reassure the public, claiming that “internal control mechanisms are functioning and were effective in this case,” but the department has come under fire as critics argue that the agency’s ability to uncover a mole only after confidential material had already been leaked demonstrates the exact opposite of control.