Germany's Bundestag Passes Intelligence Reform Expanding BND Powers Abroad
Germany's Bundestag approved a sweeping intelligence reform on November 13 by 309 votes to 190, with 71 abstentions, greatly expanding the powers of the foreign intelligence service BND and the domestic agency BfV in the largest enlargement of German intelligence authority in decades.
The law allows the BND to conduct active operations abroad: penetrating foreign IT systems, shutting down or manipulating hostile servers, carrying out hackbacks and, in limited cases, sabotage, including disabling hostile weapons systems. The BfV may, under strict conditions, covertly enter homes to install surveillance software or neutralise weapons, and gains wider powers to monitor encrypted communications.
As a counterweight, the G10 Commission is replaced by a new Independent Control Council expanded to 12 members, which must generally approve active measures in advance. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt called the package a “reform of the century.” The bill now goes back to the Bundesrat. The AfD and The Left voted against and the Greens abstained. Critics, including press-freedom groups, warn the law could restrict media freedom and may be challenged at the Federal Constitutional Court, whose October 2024 ruling faulting the G10 oversight system set a deadline of the end of 2026 for reform.
(Source: Deutsche Welle)
Source: Deutsche Welle
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 位于柏林的德国联邦情报局总部（CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons，本站裁切）。Headquarters of Germany's BND intelligence service in Berlin (CC0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped).
