Germany is all set to reform its spy agencies and lift several restraints imposed on it post World War II after two separate incidents raised severe security concerns.
The reforms have already been presented to the cabinet; however, they still need to be passed by the parliament before getting enforced.
Talking about the potential changes, the German Interior Minister Alexandr Dobrindt said: “We are turning our intelligence services into genuine secret services.”
This comes years after complaints from partner spy agencies that German intelligence lagged behind allies. Now, the European country wants to position its intelligence as competitive to the partner agencies.
Dobrindt said: “To stand on equal footing, our agency needs operational capabilities and active powers to tackle modern state terrorism and extremist groups more effectively.”
Though the proposed changes were in talks for months, the two security related incidents forced the administration to expedite the process.
In late July, a deadly car rammed into Berlin’s huge annual Pride parade and days later a drone with explosives was discovered near a Ukrainian cargo plane.
Germany’s federal foreign intelligence service (BND) will get new powers to tackle the security challenges upfront.
The government states that new powers will also help BND to confront threats emerging from foreign powers such as Russia and China.
2026-08-12 22:49:00
