On September 25, Swiss voters will have their say about a new intelligence service act. Voters who cherish their liberties can safely say yes to the new law even if it introduces new, more intrusive methods for the Swiss spy agency, Andreas Britt explains in an essay for finews.first.

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Countries from Nigeria in the South to Sweden in the North, from Thailand in the East to the U.S. in the West have seen their peace shattered by terrorist atrocities in recent months and years. With the attacks in Paris, Nice and Bavaria, the menace seems to have edged closer to the Swiss shores, a country spared from political murder since the violence by the Red Army Faction of Germany.

Faced with the attacks, countries across the world have answered by beefing up their protective measures – in France for instance, emergency laws have been activated and kept in place since. Police forces also responded by increasing their abilities to counter the violence – the English bobby traditionally did not have access to a firearm. Today, the armed response units of the U.K. have been expanded significantly.

Swiss voters will decide about the introduction of the Intelligence Service Act (ISA) on September 25, 2016. Basically, the act is a law to regulate the activities of Switzerland intelligence service. But it also, and this is the contentious issue, will give the spy agency what it sees as much needed additional methods including the covert intrusion in homes, computers and the surveillance of emails.

The government minister in charge of the new law, Guy Parmelin, expects broad support for the act that met remarkably little opposition in parliament. After all, the government and parliament ask for the support of the population to a law that is supposed to meet modern-day challenges. Who would want to say no to more security?

«The figures are less than convincing for the government»

But it doesn't seem to be such an easy ride after all, judging by the surveys published so far. At the beginning of this month, only 37 percent of voters were convinced about their support for the ISA, while every fourth voter proclaimed his or her firm opposition, according to a survey by Tamedia.

Even if the usual dynamics of the weeks leading up to a referendum are taken into account, the figures are less than convincing for the government. Only a little more than a third of the voters are currently convinced about giving the Swiss service more rights.

The lukewarm support may surprise given the current global tension – but only at first sight. In 1989, Switzerland was rocked by a scandal involving its domestic spy agency. The federal authorities together with the police had put in place a system of mass surveillance of everyone considered vaguely left wing, from the hard-core communist party member to social-democratic teachers.

The scheme, the result of cold-war fears about a Soviet invasion, led to the collection of 900,000 files, in a country of some 7 million people. The shock about this covert surveillance of its own citizens by the state is probably still lingering. Add to that the strong sentiment in favor of retaining one's liberty on the political right – and the rougher-than-expected ride becomes more understandable.

Opponents of the law are concentrating on the new measures granted by ISA, allowing the agency to covertly invade the privacy of suspects. The discussion of these rights is important and correct, because covert activities by the state are always chilling and may fuel concern about the big state being detached from normal people.

Switzerland, not least due to its four languages and two religious groups (catholic and protestant), always depended on a state that defined itself as part of society, as the administrative arm of Switzerland inc.

«Most Swiss and their elected leaders are in favor of keeping an intelligence agency»

But it is exactly this argument in favor of a citizens' state that makes it so important to have the ISA being put in place. Most Swiss and their elected leaders are in favor of keeping an intelligence agency. Since January 1, 2010, Switzerland has, unlike most other countries, only one civil intelligence service, the FIS.

It is the result of a merger of the former domestic and external services, one being essentially part of the police force, the other attached to the department of the armed forces. The new service needs a law to regulate its activities because the legal framework for the two old services doesn't really apply to what the FIS does and to its duties.

But if the country agrees to have an intelligence service, then only within a proper legal framework. Thanks to the referendum, which was forced following a committee collecting the required 50,000 signatures, the citizens will now be able to discuss and decide about the rightfulness of the proposed measures.

The Social Democrats, one of four parties forming the Swiss government, unfortunately decided to say no to the law, putting its opposition under a heading that reminds voters about the cold-war surveillance scandal. The party also claims that all the terrorists, who had committed atrocities in Europe, had been known to the security authorities, which still hadn't been able to stop the attacks from taking place.

Be this as it may, but does it mean the European countries should stop looking for terrorists? Should they stop registering names and activities and stop exchanging the information gathered with each other? Of course not, they ought to do more, with even greater vigor and in a targeted fashion.

«The new intelligence service act will not stop terrorism»

The new intelligence service act won't stop terrorism. It is a law that describes the means and defines what an intelligence service is actually doing. The law is not an anti-terror-act as such. Of course, the fight against terrorism is a major task for the service, but not only. This fight has to be done in coordination with all countries and the law regulates the way the service may cooperate.

But international cooperation isn't only about what Switzerland wants – intelligence work is being done in our country with or without a law regulating it. But it is desirable that the Swiss authorities are doing the intelligence business themselves – the big foreign organizations will no doubt fill the vacuum should Switzerland decide that it doesn't want or can't do it itself.

The opponents of the law, or rather of the covert measures allowed, are right to fight a blanket-surveillance by the state. But this would certainly not be done by the FIS or other Swiss institutions. The Swiss central state and the cantons don't have the means to organize such broad surveillance nor the capacity to actually do something with the results. The big spy agencies of this world by contrast have several hundred thousand employees (!).

The Swiss service has several hundred. The job of the government is to use those meager means as targeted as possible to detect dangers to society and to exchange the information with other countries for preventative purposes.

The Swiss service of course is more than an anti-terrorist-organization. The FIS also deals with threats from economic espionage, sabotage (hacking) and illegal spying (for example to the detriment of the international organizations based in Switzerland). The service has to feed the government with its analyses of the manifold hot spots in this world – be it in Africa, the Middle East or in Pakistan.

Why does the service need the right to investigate suspected activities of an economic nature covertly? Because a properly executed investigation at the earliest possible moment can prevent the worst of the damage. Of course, companies have to play their part, be alert about the dangers and do the necessary to protect themselves.

«Voters will support the government»

What happens if voters say no to ISA on September 25? A watered-down version of the law will be written, minus the measures now criticized, and waved through in parliament. The service would mutter about the lefties. But the really important reaction would take place abroad, at organizations with little or no public insight.

It would come as no surprise if the large organizations took things into their own hands – to protect their interests – with activities that definitely won't be up for scrutiny by a Swiss judge, as the ones the FIS might be able to use after September 25.

I have little doubt: voters will support the government and parliament in their majority. The argument that Switzerland needs an efficient service to fight the menace of terrorism and economic intelligence gathering will carry the day.

Andreas Britt is a writer and editor at finews.ch. He studied political science at the London School of Economics. Following his studies, Britt started his writing career at «Bloomberg News» in Zurich and Stockholm, covering political and macro-economic topics. Before joining finews.ch in 2015, Britt worked for eight years as a political scientist for the Swiss Confederation in Bern.

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