There is a change of personnel in the leadership of the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) of the German Armed Forces: The former State Secretary of the Berlin Senate Department for the Interior, Torsten Akmann, is now acting as deputy head of the agency. According to a statement from the MAD, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) appointed the 59-year-old native of Lower Saxony as civilian vice president on Thursday.
After working in the Chancellery and the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Akmann served as State Secretary of the Berlin Interior Administration from 2016. During the term of office of Interior Senator Andreas Geisel (SPD), his responsibilities included investigating the authorities’ actions in the case of the Breitscheidplatz attacker Anis Amri and modernizing security legislation. After a falling out with Geisel’s successor, the Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD), who is still in office today, Akmann was placed into temporary retirement in February 2023.
Akmann will now form the head of the MAD together with President Martina Rosenberg and the military vice president Ralf Feldotto. He will be in charge of four departments. His responsibilities include countering espionage and extremism.
Defense Minister Pistorius said: “Torsten Akmann is very familiar with the tasks of the intelligence services and brings with him a wealth of experience and expertise to effectively support the leadership team led by President Martina Rosenberg in the future.”
The previous civilian vice president of the MAD, Burkhard Even, was retired at the age of 64. He had held the office since October 2019. Previously, he was responsible for the counter-espionage department at the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, among other things.
The Military Counterintelligence Service is one of the three German federal intelligence services, alongside the Federal Intelligence Service, which is responsible for foreign intelligence, and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which is responsible for domestic intelligence. Its task is to counter extremism and terrorism, as well as to counter espionage and sabotage within the Bundeswehr.
