Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Saarland

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The Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Saarland is Saarland’s intelligence service and the state authority that protects the constitution. It is based in Saarbrücken and has about 60 employees. In 2018 its budget was around €525,300.

Since 2018 the office has been part of the Saarland Ministry of the Interior, Building and Sport as Department V.

Its legal basis is the Saarland Constitution Protection Act (SVerfSchG), in the version from 24 March 1993, last amended on 26 October 2010.

Because Saarland is small, there is no annual constitution protection report. Since 2013 the office has published a situation report.

The head of the department oversees a security affairs and counter-espionage unit and four departments. The office began on 8 July 1957 under a law establishing a State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and was initially independent. Ulrich Pohl has led the office since May 2021. On 18 April 2018 the Saarland Parliament decided to merge the office into the Ministry of the Interior as Department V.

In 2006 it was revealed that the office monitored Oskar Lafontaine, who was the SPD candidate for chancellor in 1990 and has been a member of the Left party since 2005. The surveillance of the Left Party ended in 2010 after the party gained votes in the 2009 state elections.