German Parliament Approves Sweeping Expansion of Intelligence Agency Powers
Lawmakers in Berlin have voted to let Germany's spy agencies carry out covert operations abroad, including sabotage and cyberattacks, citing growing threats from Russia and other hostile actors.
By Ricardo Brooks ·
Germany's parliament voted on Friday to approve a far-reaching overhaul of the country's intelligence services, granting its spies new authority to conduct covert operations overseas, including acts of sabotage and cyberattacks against adversaries.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, who played a key role in shaping the reforms, defended the changes before lawmakers. "Germany serves as an operational theater for terrorism, extremism and foreign powers," he said.
Until now, Germany's intelligence agencies have largely been confined to collecting and analyzing information. That restraint is rooted in part in the country's history with the Nazi Gestapo and the Stasi, East Germany's feared secret police, which left a lasting suspicion of powerful security services.
Security officials and German leaders have nonetheless argued that a stronger and more capable BND foreign intelligence agency is needed to confront the growing threats facing the country from hostile foreign actors. Russia is seen as the most pressing concern. BND chief Martin Jaeger has warned that Moscow is waging a "shadow war" against Germany that employs drones, espionage, sabotage, disinformation and other methods.
Under the expanded powers approved on Friday, the BND could be authorized to respond in kind with its own sabotage operations and cyberattacks. The reforms also significantly broaden the agency's ability to intercept and store data. Targeted assassinations, however, remain strictly prohibited.
The reforms also extend to the domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, or BfV, which is chiefly responsible for monitoring extremist groups and homegrown threats. Dobrindt said the BfV, which until now has mainly gathered information and produced reports, will become "a genuine secret service." Even so, its operational role inside Germany will remain far more restricted than the BND's remit abroad.
Civil liberties organizations and other critics have warned that the changes could weaken privacy protections and enable a form of mass surveillance in which the private data of innocent citizens is swept up.
The enlarged role of the domestic BfV has proven especially contentious. Opposition lawmakers from both the far right and the far left have voiced fears that it could evolve into a "secret police."
Supporters of the reforms counter that strong oversight of the new powers will remain in place, and they note that intelligence services in other European democracies already hold similar or even greater authority.
