Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced a “new era” opening for Germany’s intelligence services, whose activities until now have been mainly focused on gathering intelligence information.
With the implementation of reforms, which still need to be approved by parliament before coming into effect early next year, the services will be given more freedom to conduct non-lethal operations, such as hacking into enemy servers or carrying out sabotage.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition claims that stronger intelligence services are necessary to counter threats posed by hostile foreign states, terrorist groups, and cybercriminals.
German officials accuse Moscow of conducting a “hybrid” campaign of sabotage, espionage, and disinformation against the country, which is one of the largest military supporters of Ukraine in the war with Russia.
“We are in the midst of a hybrid conflict not only with Russia but also with other actors,” German parliament’s intelligence oversight committee chairman Marc Henrichmann told the news agency AFP.
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He said that Germany is “lagging behind” due to its cautious approach and cannot properly contribute to European security.
To emphasize the importance of changes in the intelligence services, M. Henrichmann mentioned several recent incidents, including a drone with explosives detected at Leipzig airport last week.
“We are facing enemies who play completely without following any rules,” he said. “They completely disregard law and order. Their goal is not only to pressure the West, the European Union (EU), and Germany, but ideally to bring them to their knees.”
