With experience of the Gestapo and the Stasi, Germany has kept its intelligence services on a tight leash for decades. Now the Bundestag in Berlin is voting on a major overhaul.
“Germany is a staging ground for terrorism, extremism and foreign powers,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt tells parliamentarians.
The foreign intelligence service BND has sounded the alarm that Russia is waging a “shadow war” against Germany. The BND will now have greater scope to act covertly, including carrying out sabotage, waging cyberwarfare and intercepting data traffic.
The domestic intelligence service BfV, which monitors domestic threats, will also be given greater powers and, according to the government, become a “real security service”. Critics warn that it risks becoming a new secret police force that could be used for political purposes or conduct mass surveillance of civilians.
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