Germany Is Preparing a Large-Scale Expansion of Powers of the Foreign Intelligence

The government of the FRG has prepared a draft law on a significant expansion of the powers of the Federal Foreign Intelligence Service (BND), citing growing threats to national and European security, first of all from russia, as well as the risks of international terrorism and hostile cyber activity. The document has 139 paragraphs – more than twice as many as the current law on the BND.

The need to revise the mandate of secret services was publicly announced in the autumn of 2024. The then head of the BND, Bruno Kahl, together with the heads of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Military Counterintelligence Service, speaking in the Bundestag, called on MPs to give intelligence “more operational room for manoeuvre” in the face of russian threats.

The draft law allows the BND for the first time to go beyond classic intelligence and analytical activities and to take limited active measures abroad, including sabotage, provided that the National Security Council officially declares a “special intelligence situation with a systemic threat”. Such a decision must be approved by a majority of the Bundestag’s Parliamentary Oversight Committee, i.e., at least two-thirds.

The document also significantly expands the BND’s powers in cyberspace. The service will be granted the right to launch cyberattacks in response, as well as to protect critical infrastructure, in particular through cyber and radio-electronic countermeasures against unmanned systems. It provides for the wider use of artificial intelligence for the analysis of large data sets, including facial recognition, access to geolocation and transport registers, and the use of covert means of access to digital devices.

A separate section concerns intelligence work. The draft law allows operations that go beyond the legislation of the host country, including entering premises or vehicles. In exceptional cases, persons aged 16 and older may be recruited as sources of critical information.

Besides, the rules for processing intelligence data are changing: the maximum storage period is extended from 10 to 15 years, while the requirement for automatic deletion of information about minors in counterintelligence and counterterrorism cases is cancelled.

The proposed reform reflects a deeper change in the FRG’s security policy in the context of the ongoing confrontation with russia. Berlin expects that expanding the BND’s mandate will increase the speed of response to crisis situations. In the medium term, the initiative may serve as a benchmark for similar reforms in other countries of the European Union.