Germany beefs up its intelligence services as threat from 'foreign powers' rises

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BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s government plans to give its intelligence services broader powers for actions such as disabling sabotage and hacking attempts in response to a rising threat from powers such as Russia and extremists.

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved draft legislation meant to strengthen Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, the BND, and its domestic intelligence service, the BfV, and reduce the reliance of the European Union's most populous nation on tips from its allies.

The powers of Germany's intelligence services have long lagged behind those of major European counterparts. Modern Germany has traditionally been sensitive to data protection concerns, not least because of memories of repression under the Nazis and later by communist East Germany's secret police.

“Nowadays, Germany is constantly a target of hybrid attacks by foreign powers and that is a real, very acute danger,” said Nina Warken, Chancellor Friedrich Merz's chief of staff. “We are simply too dependent on the intelligence services of other countries supporting us, and at the moment this help is a one-way street in too many areas.”

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said “we are developing our intelligence services into real intelligence services.”

The threats Germany now faces require intelligence services that are “competitive with our partner services in the European Union, but also with friendly services beyond that,” Dobrindt added.

“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.

Under the planned reform, which still requires parliamentary approval, the intelligence services will get more powers to access laptops, cellphones and other devices and store the data.

Warken, whose job involves overseeing the intelligence services, said they also will be able to take “active measures.”

The BND could, for example, swap out components in deliveries for faulty ones, access the IT systems of drone factories or chemical weapons laboratories to sabotage them, or disable or switch off the servers of hackers or disinformation agents linked to foreign states, Warken said.

Dobrindt also pointed to the possibility of exchanging explosives for harmless substances.

The reform has been planned for months. The risks Germany faces were underlined last week by the discovery of a drone carrying explosives at Leipzig/Halle airport, a major hub for international freight and for providing support to Ukraine.

That incident is under investigation and authorities haven't said who might have been responsible.

While Dobrindt and Warken didn't name the foreign powers they are worried about, Russia's activities in particular have been a constant concern for authorities across much of Europe in recent years.