Senior Management
The Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV) is headed by Director General Sinan Selen and Deputy Director General Dr Silke Willems.
In addition, several organisational units directly support the senior management; they ensure an efficient internal task management, deal with parliamentary matters, and take care of press relations and external communications. The Chief Technology Officer (CTO), who is responsible for the overall management and development of intelligence technology and information technology within BfV, is also attached to the senior management.
Director General Sinan Selen
Director General Sinan Selen was born in Istanbul/Türkiye in 1972. He studied law at the University of Cologne, focusing on justice and home affairs policy in Europe/European law.
From 2000 to 2006 he held various roles at the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in the fields of state security and VIP protection.
In late 2006 he left BKA to join the Federal Ministry of the Interior, where he became head of the Division for Terrorism and Extremism by Foreigners in the Directorate for Counter-Terrorism.
From 2009 to 2012 he held the position of deputy head of the Department for Combating Crime at the Federal Police Headquarters and was, among other things, in charge of fighting piracy and illegal immigrant smuggling.
From 2012 he was entrusted with the operational aspects of countering terrorism in the Ministry’s Directorate-General for Public Security.
In 2016 he left the Federal Ministry of the Interior to take up a job at TUI Group, developing the Group’s security structure.
From 21 January 2019 he was Deputy Director General at BfV. On 8 October 2025 Sinan Selen was appointed Director General of BfV by Federal Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt.
"The Federal Government needs reliable information in order to make knowledgeable decisions. As a service provider, we make our intelligence available to the Federal Government."
Deputy Director General Dr Silke Willems
Deputy Director General Silke Willems was born in Cologne in 1970.
After passing the Abitur, she studied law at the University of Cologne and also earned her PhD there.
From 1999 to 2000 she was editor at a publishing house. After that, she worked for the German Research Foundation (DFG) in Bonn.
Dr Willems joined BfV in 2002. She has held various roles, including lecturer for criminal law and intelligence law, head of the Legal Office and head of the HR Recruitment and Development Division. Most recently, she was in charge of the Department for Foreign Extremism and Left-Wing
Extremism/Terrorism.
She has been Deputy Director General at BfV since 14 June 2023.
"Democracy is the guarantor of freedom, security and stability. BfV's staff members make the conscious decision to protect and defend our values every day."