His deputies are the Upper Austrian David Blum, responsible for the secret service, and Michael Lohnegger, who is supposed to oversee the state police agendas. These orders were reported to the State Police Committee and thus to the parliamentary parties in the afternoon. The official appointment is made by the Federal President.
The DSN is the successor to BVT, which was shaken by various scandals and was even the subject of a committee of inquiry. Since the retirement of long-term boss Peter Gridling, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counter-Terrorism had only been run on an interim basis.
Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) wanted to wait with the occupation until the new authority structure was in place. The application deadline expired on August 27th. The responsible commission had rated all three candidates as the only ones to be highly suitable.
All three have a past in BVT, although the 41-year-old Haijawi-Pirchner only has a few months. The business administration graduate first attracted public attention when he was appointed head of the Lower Austrian State Criminal Police Office in 2017. He was already a favorite for the head of the DNS in advance.
The 47-year-old Lohnegger has been known since the terrorist attack in downtown Vienna. At that time he had led the investigation. Before that, he had held various management positions in the Styrian executive. Most recently, Lohnegger was already active in the BVT as head of the important department for information gathering and investigation.
Blum Sporen also made a name for himself in the Federal Office, among other things as head of the Strategic Analysis and Prevention departments. Most recently, however, he was in the integration department of Susanne Raab (ÖVP) as head of the integration coordination department. The political scientist has focused in recent years on preventing extremism and deradicalization.
A big task awaits the new management trio. The DSN is to be increased in terms of personnel and professionalized compared to its predecessor authority, which has received much criticism. Just recruiting suitable personnel may not be the easiest exercise.
