Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz und Terrorismusbekämpfung, "BVT") was an Austrian police organization that acted as a domestic intelligence agency.The agency was created from the Austrian State police, as well as various special task forces targeting organized crime and terrorism that were under the direction of the Directorate General for Public Security (Generaldirektion für die öffentliche Sicherheit, "GDföS"), which itself is a department of the Federal Ministry of the Interior.[1] In late 2021, following criticism for perceived failures in preventing the 2020 Vienna attack, the BVT was dissolved and replaced with the new State Security and Intelligence Directorate (DSN).In the wake of the September 11 attacks, Federal Minister of the Interior Ernst Strasser ordered the restructuring of Austrian counterterrorism efforts.[3] On February 28, 2018, the BVT was raided by Austrian Federal Police under orders of prosecutors acting on an anti-corruption investigation, taking sensitive info on far-right groups known to be close to the FPÖ.