German cabinet set to approve sweeping intelligence reform giving BND offensive cyber and sabotage powers

Cabinet set to approve largest intelligence reform

The German federal cabinet is scheduled to approve a roughly 700-page reform package on Wednesday, August 12, described by Chancellery chief Nina Warken (CDU) as the most comprehensive and fundamental reform of the intelligence services since their founding. The draft was published in early July and was drafted by the Chancellery, which oversees the BND, together with the Interior Ministry in coordination with the Justice Ministry. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) had insisted that rules for the domestic service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), be addressed alongside the BND reform.

The reform grants both the BND and the BfV significantly expanded powers. The BND, previously limited to information gathering, would gain operative capabilities: hacking foreign IT systems, neutralizing cyberattack infrastructure, and in special situations conducting sabotage abroad. Such operations would require the National Security Council to declare a special situation, with a two-thirds majority in the Parliamentary Control Panel. Use of force against persons abroad remains prohibited. The BND could also manipulate or delete data, for instance altering weapons-building instructions or disabling weapons during production. In justified exceptional cases, the BND could continue online searches (covert access to devices) domestically, for instance when a foreign agent already under surveillance in other countries is temporarily present in Germany.

Leipzig drone incident as backdrop

The reform follows heightened concern over hybrid threats. On August 4, an explosive-equipped drone was found at Leipzig/Halle airport, apparently targeting a Ukrainian Antonov An-124 cargo aircraft. The detonator was defective and the device did not explode. The Federal Prosecutor's Office is investigating and the National Security Council convened. The Wall Street Journal reported on August 7, citing two US officials, that US intelligence services attributed the Leipzig drone to the Russian government. Dobrindt has spoken of a "hybrid attack scenario" and "foreign powers" for a week, though Russian involvement has not been formally proven.

In response to the Leipzig incident, Dobrindt is doubling the Federal Police anti-drone unit from 150 to 300 personnel at the Joint Drone Defense Center (GDAZ).

FDP demands immediate halt

The FDP has mounted the sharpest political opposition. General Secretary Martin Hagen called the reform a "fatales Signal" and demanded an immediate stop, arguing that Germany's liberal democracy and functioning rule of law are key locational advantages that should not be cast into doubt. He criticized that the separation between police and intelligence work would be weakened, that the BfV would receive comprehensive investigation powers, and that the BND would be allowed to operate against German citizens domestically.

FDP leader Wolfgang Kubicki accused the government of a "historischer Tabubruch" and told the Augsburger Allgemeine that he could hardly imagine the Federal Constitutional Court would not intervene.

I do not want a secret police in Germany.

Kubicki also demanded full judicial oversight for intrusions on fundamental rights, saying one does not defend freedom by curtailing it.

Greens and police union raise concerns

Green interior expert Konstantin von Notz called more robust powers for the intelligence services urgently necessary but said the government's plans overshoot, particularly regarding BfV powers that he said were difficult to reconcile with the constitutional separation (Trennungsgebot) of intelligence and police powers. The Left party criticized the dismantling of the historical separation between police and intelligence services.

The Police Union (GdP) chairman Jochen Kopelke said that espionage, cyberattacks and drones over critical infrastructure are no longer future scenarios but reality, and called for security authorities to be fully equipped legally, technically and in personnel. He stressed that the constitutional separation between police and intelligence services remains inviolable.

BND President Martin Jäger said the service must show adversaries that it is capable of doing very similar things, so that the other side also feels the pain.

New oversight mechanisms

The reform also introduces new controls. An Independent Control Council (Unabhangiger Kontrollrat) composed of experienced jurists will handle both prior approval of intensive surveillance measures and ongoing data protection monitoring. Observation of an organization as an extremist suspect case would be limited to a maximum of five years, with extensions of two years possible only with Interior Ministry approval rather than the BfV deciding alone.

The Federal Constitutional Court had set a deadline until the end of 2026 for the BND to revise its rules on domestic-foreign telecommunications surveillance, finding the current rules lacked sufficient provisions for filtering purely domestic communications and had inadequate protection of the core private sphere of foreign persons abroad. Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil will present the reform; Chancellor Friedrich Merz is on vacation.