Bundestag Votes to Expand Spy Agency Powers for Covert Operations

Lawmakers in Berlin approved a far-reaching overhaul of Germany’s intelligence statutes on Friday, 309 to 190, with 71 abstentions.

The law grants operational powers to both the Federal Intelligence Service, or BND, and the domestic Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU/CSU-SPD coalition backed the bill after Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt called it a “reform of the century.”

Coalition Cites Hybrid Threats

“We are a target of hybrid threats,” Dobrindt told parliament. “Germany is an operational space for terrorism, extremism, for foreign powers.”

He said the agencies would now become “real secret services” and dismissed claims that the reform created a “secret police” as madness and historically forgetful.

The government has pointed to espionage and sabotage linked mainly to Russia, China and Iran, and to a desire to rely less on intelligence from allied services. Dobrindt also cited rail sabotage, hospital cyberattacks and an attack on Berlin’s power supply.

The vote follows a cabinet draft approved in August that already sought to lift postwar curbs on the services.

What the Agencies May Do

Germany’s intelligence agencies have until now been largely limited to collecting information, with the police responsible for enforcement — a separation drawn after the Nazi era.

The new law lets both services take active measures. They may penetrate foreign IT systems, shut down servers and manipulate or delete data, so-called hackbacks that were long treated as a taboo. In certain cases, the BND may also carry out sabotage abroad, including disabling hostile weapons systems or state-backed hacking servers.

The domestic service may, under strict conditions, covertly enter homes to install surveillance software, manipulate devices or neutralize weapons, and gains wider authority to monitor encrypted communications and analyze data with artificial intelligence.

Arrests and open searches remain with the police. The agencies are still barred from using violence against people.

Opposition Warns of Overreach

Clara Bünger, the Left party’s security spokeswoman, called the law “a monster that can summon spirits we will probably never get rid of,” arguing that it softens the separation principle by giving the intelligence service executive, police-like powers.

AfD parliamentary leader Alice Weidel said the bill was “an attack on the German constitutional state.” The Greens’ Konstantin von Notz acknowledged extra oversight added at the SPD’s request, but said the boundary with police work remained blurred and that “transparency and legal protection for those affected” were still inadequate.

An Independent Control Council, expanded from six to 12 members, must generally approve active measures in advance, or review them afterward in emergencies. The bill now returns to the Bundesrat, which issued comments in September. Critics are expected to challenge the law at the Federal Constitutional Court.