Germany’s intelligence agencies have been given wide-ranging new powers. The lawmakers in the Bundestag agreed to a reform package on Friday.
Under the new rules, the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) will be allowed to respond to cyberattacks by foreign powers with counterattacks of its own. The range of possible measures is broad, from deleting and manipulating data to disabling entire systems and, if necessary, even destroying physical weapons such as drones that could be deployed against Germany.
Under certain conditions, the agencies will also be permitted to enter homes and business premises covertly, for example, to prepare surveillance operations. They will, however, not be allowed to use force against people. An independent oversight board is to be established to monitor the agencies.
Opposition lawmakers specializing in domestic policy warned against granting powers that are too broad.
Separation of powers hampers procedures
The president of Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch this week again pointed out that today’s hybrid attacks pose a new challenge to the organizations safeguarding the country’s security. At his organization’s annual meeting in Berlin this week, he said the “hybrid attacks” are challenging the “separation principle,” which means that the police conduct investigations while intelligence services gather information. The exchange of data between the two is permitted only under strict conditions.
Münch has long objected to this strict division of responsibilities. He has been calling for expanded powers for the police and closer cooperation with the domestic intelligence agencythe Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which is responsible for countering espionage and sabotage.
The separation principle results from lessons learned from the Nazi dictatorshipwhen the Secret State Police (Gestapo) operated largely outside judicial constraints and served as the regime’s central instrument of terror, used to oppress and murder Jews, Sinti and Roma, homosexuals, communists, social democrats, and many others. The Allied powers that defeated Nazi Germany in World War II then decided that the police and intelligence services should remain institutionally separate and be granted different powers.
Historian Sönke Neitzel of the University of Potsdam considers the separation principle understandable in its historical context. At the BKA’s autumn conference, however, he described it as “nonsense” in light of today’s threat landscape and said it was no longer necessary in a country that has been a constitutional democracy for decades.
While Neitzel considers the separation principle outdated, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of the center-right Christian Social Union (CSU) wants to preserve it in its essential form. In his view, even a more extensive exchange of data does not violate the principle. At the same time, however, he has made clear that he wants to transform the domestically focused Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the foreign intelligence agency, the Federal Intelligence Service(BND), into “real intelligence services.”
This legislative reform brings Dobrindt a significant step closer to that goal. Parliament pproved the interior minister’s plans with the votes of the governing coalition of the conservative Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Espionage, sabotage, and disinformation
Dobrindt insisted that Germany intends to take an active approach to defending itself against cyberattacks: “Anyone who attacks us in this way must know that we are prepared to strike back. They must know that their digital infrastructure, their server infrastructure, and their software will also be targeted by us.”
BKA President Holger Münch welcomes Dobrindt’s determination and points to the growing threat posed by cyberattacks. The line between criminal and state-sponsored actors is becoming increasingly blurred, he argues. As a result, both intelligence services and law enforcement agencies face the same challenge.
To underscore the scale of the threat as he sees it, Münch cited two statistics: in the first six months of 2026, crime originating from abroad rose by 24% compared with the same period the previous year. What concerns him most is that fewer than 5% of these cases are solved. The BKA chief considers this trend more dangerous than ever: “The state’s promise of security can become fragile. Confidence in the ability of its institutions to act effectively and remain steadfast is declining.”
This article was originally written in German.
Source: www.dw.com
