Germany's cabinet has approved a draft law to lift many postwar restraints on its spy agencies, a move described as a security "revolution" following two attacks in a month that exposed serious gaps.
New powers for BND and BfV
The changes, which still require parliamentary approval, largely align with a wishlist from the foreign and domestic intelligence services, which have long said Germany lags behind allies and enemies. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told Bild newspaper: "We are turning our intelligence services into genuine secret services." He added: "It is high time we positioned ourselves to be competitive and on an equal footing with our partner services around the world."
The federal foreign intelligence service (BND), which turned 70 this year and is led by former ambassador to Ukraine Martin Jäger, will gain new powers to confront threats from state actors like Russia and China, with fewer impediments and the help of AI. The draft law's more than 700 pages allow spies to manipulate or delete data, known as "hack-back" cyber-attacks, and to alter weapons-building instructions or render arms harmless during production. Digital payments to low-level "disposable" agents could be blocked.
Context of rising threats
The moves follow a deadly car ramming at Berlin's Pride parade in late July by a German-born Islamist known to authorities, and the discovery last week of a drone laden with explosives near a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig airport. German authorities say the threat level has soared since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Moscow-linked agents allegedly carrying out sabotage, spying, and hacker attacks.
Jäger said Germany must show adversaries "that we're in a position to do similar things so the other side also feels the pain." The BND has until now been largely defensive, serving as an information repository with few operational powers. The use of force abroad remains forbidden, but agents will be able to carry weapons for self-defence more often without explicit permission.
Oversight and criticism
The law, hoped to be in place by 1 January 2027, would loosen data protection rules and allow the BND and domestic watchdog BfV to collect, store, and analyse more information for longer with AI. It would also ease permission for online searches and home surveillance. Germany will add an independent board to oversee the agencies, supplementing parliament's intelligence control committee.
Some politicians warned of overreach. Federal data protection commissioner Louisa Specht-Riemenschneider said her office would lose oversight of the BND and criticised expanded access to CCTV footage. Green party spokesperson Konstantin von Notz called the changes "urgently needed" but said the draft law "overshoots the mark," particularly regarding BfV powers that are "difficult to reconcile" with the separation of intelligence and police powers. The legislation could face court challenges.
