Thorsten Wetzling

Dr. Thorsten Wetzling heads the research unit on digital rights, surveillance and democracy of the Stiftung Neue Verantwortung (SNV), a non-profit think tank in Berlin. His current work focuses on the practice, the legal basis and effective independent oversight with respect to different modes of access and subsequent processing of personal data by security and intelligence agencies. More specifically, the European Network Intelligence Governance (EION) regularly explores new ideas and challenges for democratic intelligence governance in collaborative workshops with oversight practitioners from across the continent. Thorsten is also the founder of aboutintel.eu – a European discussion forum on surveillance, technology, and democracy. 

From 2021 to 2022, Thorsten assisted the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) in finding common standards for law enforcement and national security service access to personal data in the private sector. Thorsten was also appointed in 2021 by the Council of Europe as a scientific expert to examine the scope of exemptions in the modernized Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing of Personal Data.

Thorsten Wetzling received his PhD from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva with a comparative study of the performance and reform of intelligence control in Europe.