Germany gives intelligence services broad powers amid rising threats, security lapses

The German government has approved a draft legislation aimed at lifting many restraints imposed on its spy agencies in the postwar period and giving it more powers as the country reels from two attacks in a month that have exposed serious security gaps. The move will reduce Berlin’s reliance on tips from its allies.

The changes largely comply with the wishlist drawn by the foreign and domestic intelligence services, which complain that Germany lags behind both its allies and enemies.

Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt praised the approved measures that give intelligence services broad powers and said, “We are transforming our intelligence services into genuine secret services.”

Dobrindt told a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday that the new measures will revolutionize Germany’s security architecture.

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“It is high time we positioned ourselves to be competitive and on an equal footing with our partner services around the world. This requires operational capabilities and active powers to tackle modern state terrorism and extremist groups more effectively,” he said.

“We are a daily target of espionage, sabotage, cyberattacks and hidden actions by foreign powers with the aim of destabilizing our country, damaging our country, and bringing about political and social changes in our country,” Dobrindt said.

Reforms will give domestic, foreign intel services more ioperational powers

The reforms will give domestic and foreign intelligence services more scope in gathering and storing information and data, as well as operational powers to fight acts of sabotage and hacking attempts.

The German government says the reforms are needed to better combat the growing threat from cyber and hybrid attacks, particularly, but not exclusively, from Russia.

Dobrindt said Germany was catching up with what is possible in other European countries like France or the UK, where secret services have more and broader powers.

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Two major intel and security lapses prompted the new measures. First was a deadly car ramming at Berlin’s huge annual Pride parade in July by a German-born Islamist known to the authorities. The second was the discovery of an explosives-laden drone near a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig airport, a key defence transport hub, last week.

Friedrich Merz’s coalition government is under pressure to demonstrate it can modernise to keep its citizens safe.

The intelligence services reform plans have been in the offing for months and were repeatedly fine-tuned before being presented to the cabinet on Wednesday.

The federal foreign intelligence service (BND) will get new powers to confront emerging threats from state actors such as Russia and China with fewer impediments, and with the help of AI.

Threat level soared since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

German authorities say the threat level has soared since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as agents linked to Moscow have allegedly carried out repeated sabotage, spying and hacker attacks against critical infrastructure and military equipment manufacturers.

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Until now, the BND had a defensive position, making it largely a repository for information with few operational powers.

However, the use of force by intelligence personnel abroad will remain forbidden. But agents will be able to carry weapons for self-defence more often without explicit permission.

The law would loosen rules around data protection, widely mocked as self-defeating and exaggerated.