Germany steps up powers of police and intelligence services

Key Points:

• Germany's Bundestag has approved a reform granting intelligence agencies, including the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), broad new powers to counter cyberattacks, including the ability to conduct counterattacks and covertly enter homes and businesses under certain conditions.
• The reform allows the BND to take measures ranging from data manipulation to disabling systems and destroying physical threats like drones, while an independent oversight board will monitor agency activities.
• The strict separation between police and intelligence services, rooted in lessons from Nazi-era abuses, is being challenged as outdated by some experts and officials who advocate for closer cooperation to address modern hybrid threats.
• Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt supports maintaining the separation principle but aims to strengthen domestic intelligence agencies and enable a more proactive defense against cyber threats, a stance backed by the governing coalition.
• BKA President Holger Münch highlights the rising threat from cybercrime and hybrid attacks, noting a 24% increase in foreign-origin crimes in early 2026 and expressing concern over low resolution rates, which could undermine public confidence in state security institutions.