A WORLD OF SPOOKS: Germany Approves New Sweeping Powers for Intelligence Services, Leading to Fears of Mass Surveillance

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BND logo – Wiki Commons

Can Germany beef up its intel game without treading on constitutional protections?

We have been reporting since late last year on TGP about how Germany, besides being engaged in an overhaul of its armed forces, is also working to upgrade its intelligence capabilities to face the dangerous new world that we’re living in.

So, today (12), the German cabinet approved new powers for its intelligence services to ‘hack communications and disrupt foreign adversaries’ operations’.

Chancellor Merz’s cabinet approved a set of measures to expand intelligence agencies’ powers https://t.co/Z8Zf3MDZVk

— Bloomberg (@business) August 12, 2026

Reuters reported:

“The measures, which ‌have been under discussion for months, would allow both the BND, the foreign intelligence service, and the BfV, the domestic security service, broader authority to access digital communications, collect data and carry out active operations to thwart attacks.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the measures, which would incorporate artificial intelligence tools, would ‘revolutionize Germany’s security architecture’.

‘We are transforming our intelligence services into genuine secret services’, he told a news conference in Berlin, saying that for the first time, the agencies would ⁠be given operational powers.”

Germany plans to give its spy agencies sweeping new powers for cyberattacks, surveillance and even foreign sabotage, while critics warn the reforms could erode constitutional protectionshttps://t.co/vXSjJpCPwS

— TRT World (@trtworld) August 12, 2026

Politico reported:

“Under the proposed reform, spies working for Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, the BND, could carry out acts of sabotage, conduct offensive cyber operations and pursue more aggressive espionage operations. Until now, those spies have been limited to information-gathering operations due to intentional restraints put in place after World War II to prevent a repeat of the abuses perpetrated by the Nazi spy apparatus.”

But, now, there is growing threat from Russia and China and concerns that the U.S. may halt the intelligence sharing that Germany so badly needs.

“‘We are daily targets of espionage, sabotage, cyberattacks and covert actions by foreign powers aimed at destabilizing Germany, at harming our country and at bringing about political and social changes within our country’, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told reporters after the cabinet meeting in Berlin.

‘Our mission is to continually adapt the state’s protective mandate to these new threat scenarios’, he added.”

BIG | Germany is preparing a major expansion of its domestic intelligence capabilities, potentially giving the country’s security services unprecedented powers to actively disrupt threats rather than simply monitor them.