Bild: Turkish native to be appointed head of German counterintelligence

Sinan Selen, a native of Türkiye, will be appointed the new head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), which carries out counterintelligence functions in the country, Report infoirkms referring to the Bild newspaper, citing sources in the parliamentary factions of the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Unions (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).  

According to their data, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt will inform BfV employees about Selen's appointment on September 15.

He currently holds the position of deputy head of the department. The previous head of counterintelligence, Thomas Haldenwang, left his post at the end of last year to run for the Bundestag (parliament), but he failed to get there.  

BfV was created 75 years ago. The department has about 4.2 thousand employees. Its main tasks are counterintelligence activities, monitoring organizations and individuals posing a threat to the "free and democratic order" in Germany.  

Selen was born in 1972 in Istanbul. His parents, journalists for the Deutsche Welle media group, immigrated to Germany when he was four years old. Selen studied law at the University of Cologne, worked in the Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Criminal Police Office. Since January 2019, he has held the post of deputy head of the BfV.