Bundestag approves reform: More powers for the intelligence services

The German intelligence services will have more powers to defend against espionage, terrorism and sabotage. The Bundestag has decided on a fundamental reform of intelligence law.

309 MPs voted yes, 190 voted no and 71 abstained. This gives the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) additional tools, for example in telecommunications surveillance and for comparing biometric data.

Cyberattacks, targeted misinformation

In the future, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution will no longer only be allowed to collect information and monitor people, but under certain conditions, for example, to secretly break into homes and take action against explosives or weapons. He is now allowed to use cyberattacks to disrupt attackers' infrastructure, redirect data traffic, delete information stored for attacks or specifically spread false information.

However, arrests or open searches remain reserved for the police.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution may also restrict cooperation with individual state offices in the future in response to the AfD's election victory in Saxony-Anhalt.

The BND, which is responsible for foreign intelligence, is also given operational powers to intervene, for example, it can paralyze servers of state hacker groups abroad. A committee made up of former judges is supposed to examine the legality of certain measures in advance.

"Real secret services"

“Intelligence services are becoming real secret services,” said Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU). "We need these measures against the enemies of democracy who threaten this country from outside and inside." SPD deputy parliamentary group leader Sonja Eichwede explained that the move would strengthen “the defense of democracy”.

Green Party deputy parliamentary group leader Konstantin von Notz supported the reform of the foreign secret service, but rejected the law on the protection of the constitution. “This draft gives everyone, especially the BND, the means to become capable of acting and to act on an equal footing with our partner services,” said von Notz.

Things look different when it comes to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. “You took advantage of the pressure situation at the BND to take a decisive sip too much from the bottle in several places,” he said in the direction of Dobrindt.

The AfD and the Left criticized the expansion of powers as excessive and warned of a secret service that threatened the state from within.

Increased threat situation

With the reform, the coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD is also reacting to an increased threat with regard to the activities of foreign secret services - especially from Russia, China and Iran. The changes are intended to reduce dependence on information provided by intelligence services of friendly states.

Germany's domestic and foreign secret services have so far had significantly fewer rights, not only in comparison to the USA, but also to the services of other European countries. The rule of law was intended to be secured from the experience of the Nazi regime.