The BND (the German Security Service) appointed a new Deputy Chief on 1st November. He is Philipp Wolff, aged 50. Wolff’s background is in law and he was a public prosecutor in Munich at the start of his career. He moved up through the managerial ranks and then switched to the BND joining as a desk officer in 2007. He was the BND Station Chief in Paris from 2017 to 2021. He was a natural choice for this as he is a fluent French speaker having studied law at Lyons. Last year he was appointed as Chief of Staff at the BND. His new role is as “Vice President for Core Tasks and Representative of the President.” It is thought that his appointment reflects two concerns for the BND: 1) ever closer co-operation with the French DGSE and 2) the need for an eye on the legal aspect of security operations. This is always a sensitive subject in Germany under its electoral system of proportional representation which ensures that even smaller political parties have a voice.
