The German Bundestag has approved significant new powers for the nation's intelligence services, enabling them to actively hack and disrupt adversaries under specific conditions. This legislative move aims to help the government counter growing threats from espionage and cyberattacks. The bill passed on Friday with 308 votes in favor, 190 against, and 71 abstentions.
The governing coalition of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats supported the reform. In contrast, the far-right Alternative for Germany party and the Left Party, known as Die Linke, voted against the measure. The legislation expands the roles of both the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which handles domestic intelligence, and the Federal Intelligence Service, responsible for foreign intelligence. Previously, these agencies primarily gathered and analyzed information. Now, they are authorized to take active steps to disrupt certain threats.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt labeled the legislation a reform of the century. He argued that Germany requires stronger intelligence capabilities to effectively confront terrorism and hostile operations by foreign states. The government stated that this change addresses a critical gap in the security system. Until now, intelligence agencies could identify serious threats but often lacked the authority to intervene, especially when no other agency was responsible or able to act.
Under the new framework, the domestic service will be permitted to use technical measures against severe threats. This includes actions such as deleting stolen information from an attacker's server. The foreign intelligence service will gain expanded operational powers to intervene against threats abroad. One specific capability will be disrupting servers utilized by state-backed hackers.
The approval follows a high-profile incident in August, when German authorities discovered an explosive-laden drone near a cargo plane belonging to the Ukrainian firm Antonov Airlines. The plane was at the Leipzig-Halle airport. Berlin formally accused Russia of attempting an attack at the state-owned facility. Dobrindt stated that the intelligence community determined the drone was consistent with Russian technology.
Russia denied involvement in the drone incident. However, the accusation led to the closure of the Russian Consulate General in Bonn and the Russian House cultural center in Berlin. Moscow responded by ordering the closure of a German consulate in St. Petersburg and the Goethe-Institut. Florian Bigge, program director at the Korber-Stiftung think tank, told Al Jazeera that the reform is a direct result of what he called an epochal change in Germany's foreign policy since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Bigge noted that the foreign intelligence agency has publicly sought these expanded powers since 2024. He described the current international order as increasingly uncertain. He stated that the security reality has changed fundamentally, citing Russia as the main trigger for sabotage, cyberattacks, and drone incidents. He also mentioned fears regarding US unpredictability and reduced intelligence sharing.
Dobrindt said the approved changes place German agencies on an equal footing with their European partners. During parliamentary debates, ministers argued that intelligence services should not be forced to wait when other authorities cannot avert a serious threat. Experts told the Bundestag that Berlin's capabilities lacked modern intervention powers compared to Western counterparts.
Opposition lawmakers, particularly from Die Linke, raised objections regarding privacy and the historic separation between intelligence gathering and police work. The party argued that key provisions failed to meet constitutional standards for intrusive surveillance. They warned that the sweeping powers could effectively create a German secret police force, a concept with historical resonance for citizens who lived under the Stasi, East Germany's secret police between 1950 and 1990.
Die Linke recently won the Berlin city-state parliament election in September with 25.7 percent of the vote. This victory allowed the party to appoint a mayor after forming a coalition government. Bigge said that criticism so far has come from lawmakers and civil liberties groups. He added that a broader public debate may still emerge as the state expands its capabilities abroad. The main provisions of the law are scheduled to take effect on December 31, pending the completion of the legislative process.
