Germany is preparing the biggest overhaul of its intelligence services in years, after the cabinet approved draft legislation designed to strengthen both the foreign intelligence agency, known as the BND, and its domestic counterpart, the BfV. The government frames the reform as a necessary answer to a sharper and more aggressive threat from hostile states, above all Russia.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt did not undersell the ambition. He said the measures, which would weave artificial intelligence into the work of the agencies, would revolutionize Germany's security architecture. The language reflects a sense in Berlin that the tools built for an earlier era are no longer enough for the kind of covert pressure the country now faces.
From watching to acting
The most striking change is a shift from gathering intelligence to actively disrupting hostile operations. Under the plans, the BND could disable or switch off the servers of hackers and disinformation agents linked to foreign states, break into the IT systems of drone factories or chemical weapons laboratories to sabotage them, and even swap components in deliveries for faulty ones. It is a move toward offensive action that goes well beyond the traditional role of quietly collecting secrets.
The reform also widens what the agencies can do with data. Both services would gain broader powers to collect and analyse information, including permission to use artificial intelligence to sift through enormous datasets and to hold on to certain data for longer. Reports of the draft describe powers to infiltrate computers and smartphones, including through Trojan software, and to strike back at an attacker's infrastructure in the event of a cyberattack.
Why now
The urgency flows from how German officials read the current moment. They accuse Moscow of running a hybrid campaign against the country, a mix of sabotage, espionage and disinformation meant to weaken Germany without open conflict. As one of the largest military backers of Ukraine, Germany sees itself as a prime target for exactly that kind of pressure, and the reform is pitched as a way to fight back on the same terrain.
That threat has felt increasingly concrete. A string of incidents involving drones, suspected sabotage and probing of critical infrastructure has hardened the mood in Berlin, and the government argues its agencies need the legal room to respond in real time rather than watch from the sidelines. The draft is meant to give them that room.
The civil liberties question
Sweeping new powers for the security services rarely pass without a fight, and this reform is no exception. Critics warn that letting intelligence agencies scan vast pools of data with artificial intelligence, hold information for longer and hack into devices raises real risks for privacy and civil liberties, in a country whose history has made it especially wary of intrusive state surveillance.
That tension between security and freedom is likely to define the debate ahead. Supporters say the threats are serious enough to justify strong tools, while opponents fear the safeguards will not keep pace with the powers. Squaring those views will fall to lawmakers, since the legislation still has to clear parliament before it can become law.
What comes next
For now the plan is a statement of intent rather than a finished law. The cabinet's approval sends it into the political process, where its details, and its limits, will be argued over by parties with sharply different instincts on surveillance and state power. How far the final version goes will say a great deal about where Germany draws the line between protecting itself and constraining its own agencies.
What is already clear is the direction. Germany is moving to arm its spies for a contest it believes is being waged against it every day, in server rooms, supply chains and social media feeds rather than on any battlefield. Whether the country can expand that power without eroding the freedoms it is meant to defend is the test the coming months will set.