Letter to the editor on the editorial “Hypocritical debate”, 16 August
At a meeting of the so-called “National Security Council”, the ÖVP received a bitter rebuff, as all other parties, including their Green coalition partner, rejected the very important “messenger surveillance”. ÖVP General Secretary Christian Stocker described this as a “holiday for terrorists and organized crime”!
As the recent case of the planned terrorist attack at the Taylor Swift concert in Vienna has shown, the Austrian security authorities were dependent on information from foreign secret services, which, for example, recorded a suspect’s oath of allegiance to IS (Islamic State) on the messenger service “Telegram”. In today’s globally digitally networked criminal world, it is no longer enough for the security authorities to just “tap” a phone, because organized crime and/or potential terrorists are always one step ahead of the security authorities in digital communication via the “messenger services”!
But as is so often the case in Austrian politics, the very important questions of security policy, especially in view of the renewed risk of terrorist attacks in Europe, are once again lost in the party-political bickering in the current election campaign. “Everything is subordinated to the election campaign” (Ms. Eva Linsinger/Profil and Mr. Hämmerle/Kleine Zeitung in the ZIB on August 14, 2024), instead of the politicians, which would be their damned job, dealing objectively with a very important issue!
Mag. Michael Moser, Klagenfurt
More readers’ letters on the topic
Protection takes priority
There is hardly any other country than Austria where selected security agencies are not allowed to monitor the chats etc. of suspicious persons. Of course, there must be precise rules for this; however, the current state of anti-terrorism measures is intolerable. Foreign intelligence services must inform us of possible terrorist attacks. In the case of the foiled terrorist attack on one of the Taylor Swift concerts, two friendly foreign intelligence services informed the Army Intelligence Office.
Austria has become a country of spies due to inadequate laws. Do we want to become a country of terrorists soon? It must be possible for investigators to be allowed to monitor the cell phones and computers of suspected terrorists using a special program in the event of danger.
Our freedom, our Western values and democracy are the foundations of our society and must be defended. However, the physical protection of people should take priority.
Kurt Gaertner, Wels
The image remains
I don’t think that these teenagers would have been able to disrupt, let alone terrorize, this series of concerts for the “Swifties” under normal security measures, let alone with increased security measures. What was achieved in Paris for weeks for the Olympic Games should have been possible in Vienna too.
They gave up too quickly. One gets the impression that many things were exaggerated and happened too hastily. That would have been the right answer: We take security seriously, but we will not allow ourselves to be terrorized and prevented from carrying out our plans. The image of a fearful and insecure country will unfortunately stick.
Dr. Siegfried Beer, Graz
Threadbare
During the ORF summer talks, the Green Party leader Werner Kogler proved himself to be completely incompetent. At the beginning he fiddled around so much that the interviewee had to point out a concrete answer several times. For example, when it came to the law on the interception of cell phone data, which was delayed by the Green Party, he used flimsy arguments, which is also completely pointless because we were warned by foreign secret services in the case of Swift concerts!
What foreign secret services do should be forbidden to Austrian ones? Just something to think about!
Peter Klatzer, Klagenfurt
