Germany is preparing to strengthen its foreign intelligence service with sweeping new powers, preparing for a possible "divorce" with the United States, writes the Politico portal, adding that the plan comes at a time when German and other European leaders are increasingly concerned that US President Donald Trump could suspend the intelligence sharing on which Europe relies heavily - or use that dependence as a tool of pressure.
Just as European countries must radically strengthen their militaries in order to gain greater autonomy, so, officials in Berlin argue, the German intelligence apparatus must become significantly more capable.
“We want to continue working closely with the Americans,” Mark Henrichmann, chairman of a special committee in the German Bundestag that oversees the work of intelligence services, told Politiko. “But if a president, whoever he is, decides in the future to go it alone without the Europeans… then we have to be able to stand on our own two feet.”
German leaders see the need for this as particularly urgent in their country, where the foreign intelligence service, the BND, is much more tightly regulated by law than intelligence agencies in other countries. These restrictions stem from safeguards deliberately put in place after World War II to prevent a repeat of the abuses committed by the Nazi intelligence apparatus.
However, these restrictions also had an unintended consequence - they made Germany particularly dependent on the US when it came to intelligence gathering, which is now seen as a potential threat.
"Intelligence work is such that the question is always: What do you offer me, what do I offer you?" Henrihman said. "And if Germany is just the taker, the risk is simply too great."
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz now wants to strengthen and unfetter his country's foreign intelligence service, giving it significantly broader powers to carry out sabotage, conduct offensive cyber operations, and conduct espionage activities more aggressively.
Torsten Frei, the chancellor's office official in charge of intelligence reform, compared the plans this week to the "Zeitenwende," or "historic turning point" that former German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At that time, Berlin announced major investments in strengthening the long-neglected armed forces.
A similar shift, Fry said, “must now be applied to our intelligence services.”
The legacy of Nazism
The German intelligence service BND was founded in 1956 with legal restrictions aimed at preventing a repeat of abuses like those committed by the Nazi Gestapo and SS - even though many of its agents at the time were former Nazis, according to Politiko.
In order to keep the BND strictly separate from the police and prevent interference in internal affairs, the service was placed under the supervision of the chancellor's office and subject to a strict parliamentary control mechanism. Its powers were limited to the collection and analysis of intelligence. The agents were not given the legal right to intervene to thwart perceived threats.
Such restrictions persist to this day. German spies, for example, can learn about plans for an impending cyberattack through surveillance, but they are practically powerless to prevent it themselves. They can eavesdrop on conversations under strict legal supervision, but they cannot carry out sabotage to neutralize a detected threat.
Germany's strict data protection laws - also largely a reaction to the legacy of the East German secret police, the Stasi - further restrict the BND. For example, the agency must remove personal information from documents before passing them on to other intelligence services.
According to German officials, such restrictions are no longer justified, especially in light of the growing threat of Russian sabotage.
“If Germany is attacked, then in my opinion it is not enough to just watch - we must also be able to defend ourselves,” said Frei, the chancellor’s office official responsible for BND reform. “All other countries in the world that have the appropriate services do this,” he added.
As a result of the weakness of Germany’s intelligence system, the country has relied heavily on covert US activities to thwart planned attacks. The US, for example, has issued warnings about an alleged Russian plot to assassinate the CEO of Rheinmetall, as well as a plan by a Chechen national to attack the Israeli embassy in Berlin. According to Bild, citing a confidential document from the agency, only about two percent of the warnings about terrorist threats come from the BND itself.
Without American intelligence sharing, “we are helpless,” Foreign Minister Johan Vadeful said in a radio interview earlier this week. “That is the stark reality, from which I cannot spare anyone.”
"A game without rules"
German officials were rattled when Washington temporarily suspended intelligence sharing with Ukraine in March last year to pressure Kiev during peace talks with Russia. The episode showed that the Trump administration is willing to use America's dominance in intelligence gathering as leverage to pressure allies.
A few months later, Merc promised to significantly increase the capabilities of the BND.
“Nothing is taken for granted anymore, the tried and tested rules no longer apply,” Merck said in a speech to agency officials. “Given the responsibility we bear in Europe, given our size and economic strength, it is our ambition that the BND operates at the highest possible level in terms of intelligence.”
The Merz government has increased the BND's budget by about 26 percent, to 1,51 billion euros this year. The chancellor is also working to relax data protection regulations to which the BND is subject, which would allow the use of artificial intelligence and facial recognition.
The chancellor's office hopes to bring the full package of proposed reforms to a vote in parliament by the fall.
However, significant restrictions on the BND are likely to remain in place. According to German media, citing a draft proposal, the agency’s expanded powers would be conditional on the National Security Council declaring a “special intelligence situation” at the chancellery, which would also require the approval of a two-thirds majority of MPs in the parliamentary committee that oversees the BND. However, many MPs in Germany’s ruling coalition still believe that the proposed changes would put the country in a significantly better position to defend itself.
“Those who are working against us, Russian state actors, Russian cyber factories, are operating in the same way that Nazi intelligence services once operated,” Henrichman, the conservative MP who heads the parliamentary committee, told Politico. “In a game without rules, we cannot stand aside and impose artificial limitations on ourselves.”
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