Due to the tightened security situation worldwide and probably due to fear of espionage, stricter vacation rules apply to employees of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and some police officers. Simply traveling privately to Cuba, Vietnam or China will no longer be possible for them in the future.
Already on May 1st, the Department for the Protection of the Constitution of the Senate Interior Administration issued new instructions. This was now sent to the police via a circular email – with the security level “classified information – for official use only”, or “VS-NfD” for short.
The subject is: “New special regulations for travel to countries with particular security risks for security-cleared personnel.” The “B.Z.” first reported.
The email says: “So far, these requirements have only applied to a small group of people.” Now it affects several hundred police officers who have access to classified information with a classification of “Secret” or “Top Secret”.
You must register private travel to or through countries classified as risky “14 days before your departure or booking”. The internal administration must then agree. This regulation applies even in the three years after the end of the “safety-sensitive activity”.
The list of “countries with particular security risks”, or “SmbS” for short, is determined by the Ministry of the Interior and the federal states. These include Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet republics such as Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, but also Syria, Algeria, Georgia, Iraq, Iran, Laos, North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan and Lebanon.
By Alexander Fröhlich
The original for this article “For fear of espionage: Berlin police officers get stricter travel rules” comes from Tagesspiegel.