Germany’s Bundestag has approved a reform package expanding the powers of the country’s intelligence agencies, including allowing the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) to launch counterattacks against cyber operations by foreign powers, according to DW.
The package passed on Friday with support from the governing CDU/CSU and Social Democratic Party coalition. Opposition lawmakers specializing in domestic policy warned that the new authorities were too broad, DW reported.
BND gains cyber counterattack powers
Under the rules described by DW, the BND’s response options range from deleting or manipulating data to disabling entire systems. The measures could also include destroying physical weapons, such as drones that could be deployed against Germany.
Agencies would also be permitted, under certain conditions, to enter homes and business premises covertly, including to prepare surveillance operations. DW reported that they would not be allowed to use force against people, and that an independent oversight board would monitor the agencies.
The report describes parliamentary approval. It does not provide an effective date or the full statutory conditions governing each power.
Police and intelligence cooperation remains contested
The debate extends beyond cyber counterattacks to Germany’s separation principle: police investigate crimes while intelligence agencies gather information, with data exchanges allowed only under strict conditions.
Federal Criminal Police Office president Holger Münch has called for expanded police powers and closer cooperation with the domestic intelligence service, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, according to DW. He argued at the BKA’s annual meeting in Berlin that hybrid attacks increasingly challenge the division of responsibilities.
The new BND authorities should not be read as automatically giving police the same foreign-intelligence powers. DW separately describes Münch’s requests for closer cooperation and the intelligence reform approved by lawmakers.
Historical safeguards meet new security pressures
Germany’s institutional separation of police and intelligence services emerged from the experience of the Nazi dictatorship and the Gestapo’s largely unchecked power, DW explained. After World War II, the Allied powers required separate institutions with different responsibilities.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, of the CSU, has said he wants to preserve the principle in its essential form while allowing more extensive information sharing. He has also advocated more active intelligence services capable of responding to attacks.
Münch said the distinction between criminal and state-sponsored cyber actors was becoming increasingly blurred. DW reported that he cited a 24% year-on-year increase in crime originating abroad in the first half of 2026 and a clearance rate below 5%. These were figures attributed to Münch, rather than a count of all hybrid attacks.
The legislation brings the government’s security agenda forward while sharpening the dispute over how far intelligence operations should extend into private spaces and digital infrastructure. The scope of the final legal safeguards and their implementation will determine how those powers operate in practice.
