Germany Is Restructuring Its Defenses Against russia’s Hybrid Aggression

Federal Minister of the Interior of the FRG Alexander Dobrindt has inaugurated the Joint Center for Countering Hybrid Threats – GAZ Hybrid. Berlin is taking a strategic step toward the systemic integration of security agencies, shifting from responding to individual incidents to continuous interagency monitoring and threat forecasting.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) will coordinate the Center’s operations. The platform includes the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), the National Cyber Security Center (NCAZ), the Joint Drone Countermeasures Center (GDAZ), the Joint Center for Countering Extremism and Terrorism (GETZ), and the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). GAZ Hybrid is becoming the single coordination platform for the police, intelligence services, and cybersecurity agencies.

The Center will consist of five working groups: security situation monitoring, operational information sharing, countering disinformation and foreign influence, protection of the economy, and analytics and reporting. GAZ Hybrid’s official mandate covers the detection and prevention of espionage, sabotage, transnational repression, state terrorism, cyberattacks, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, interference in electoral processes, and the use of so-called “one-time agents”.

According to German security agencies, russia and China remain the main sources of hybrid threats. moscow views Berlin as a priority target due to Germany’s role in supporting Ukraine, its leading position in the EU and NATO, and its influence on the shaping of European defense and industrial policy. Beijing, for its part, is focused on economic and technological espionage – first of all on gaining access to critical technologies, industrial supply chains, and research institutions.

The opening of GAZ Hybrid is part of a broader reform of Germany’s security sector. In February 2026, the government announced plans to expand the powers of the BND and BfV amid growing hybrid threats, and the new Center represents a practical step toward implementing this course of action.

The creation of GAZ Hybrid signals a consistent strengthening of Germany’s security architecture: Berlin is building an institutional framework for long-term counteraction against hybrid aggression – ranging from the protection of critical infrastructure to the public exposure of foreign influence operations.