Bruno Kahl


Bruno Guntram Wilhelm Kahl is a German civil servant and administrative lawyer. Since 1 July 2016, he has been President of the Federal Intelligence Service.

Early life and education

Kahl was born as the first child of Bernhard and Ute Kahl in Essen, West Germany. He completed his Abitur in 1981 at Kardinal-Frings-Gymnasium in Bonn-Beuel and military service from 1981 until 1983, then studied law until 1988 at the University of Bonn and the University of Lausanne. Alongside his studies, he also completed journalistic training at the in Munich. After his first state examinations, he clerked in Bonn and Speyer, Germany, and Sydney, Australia.
Kahl is an Oberst in the Reserves of the Bundeswehr.

Career

In 1994, Kahl completed his second state examination at the Oberlandesgericht of Cologne, and then worked for the Confederation of German Employers' Associations. From 1995 to 1996, he was a desk officer at the Federal Chancellery. From 1996 until 2005, he was assigned as an adviser to the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, where he performed preliminary work for the group's chairman Wolfgang Schäuble. Since then, he has been a close confidant of Schäuble.
In 2005 in the First Merkel cabinet, Kahl served as Head of the Minister’s Office and spokesman of Schäuble at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, where he became head of the executive group in 2006. In 2008, Kahl was awarded a Doctor of Law by the University of Bonn, authoring his dissertation on elements of Catholic thought in Carl Schmitt's secular political theory. In 2010, Kahl followed Schäuble to the Federal Ministry of Finance, where he also served as head of the executive staff. Beginning in 2011, Kahl acted as Undersecretary for Directorate-General VIII at BMF. In this capacity, he also served on the Supervisory Board of Portigon AG from 2012 until 2015.
Kahl was appointed President of the Federal Intelligence Service on 27 April 2016, effective 1 July, after the dismissal of Gerhard Schindler. His replacement at the BMF is.
Kahl is a member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.

Personal life

Kahl has been widowed since 2008, and has two daughters.

Publications