The Bundestag expands the powers of the intelligence services

On Friday, the Bundestag adopted a sweeping reform of Germany’s intelligence services amid threats attributed to Russia and growing risks to domestic security. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) will be able to intervene directly and clandestinely against certain attackers, rather than merely collect information.

The new provisions allow them to disrupt targets’ infrastructure through cyberattacks, redirect data traffic, delete information used to prepare attacks, and deliberately spread false information. In certain situations, the services will also be able to recruit minors as informants.

The measures may be applied only if the threats cannot be neutralized by other means. In the case of the BfV, operations must respect the priority of police authorities. The reform also allows cooperation with certain regional offices to be limited following the AfD’s victory in Saxony-Anhalt.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt called the law a “historic reform,” while the SPD argued that it strengthens democracy’s ability to defend itself. The AfD and Die Linke criticized the expansion of the services’ powers and warned of the risk that the agencies could end up threatening the state from within.