Germany's foreign intelligence service is to be given far more scope for taking decisive action in threatening situations under plans of the office of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, according to media reports on Thursday. The proposals would allow sabotage operations to weaken hostile forces, according to public broadcasters WDR and NDR as well as the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, citing a new draft law on the country's Federal Intelligence Service BND.
A BND spokesman said that out of respect for the work of the government and the legislature, he would not comment on the amendment of the law or on any interim results.
According to the reports, the BND will no longer be limited to espionage, gathering and evaluating information, but will in future also carry out operational actions to protect the country. This would require a "special intelligence situation."
Such a threat level would have to be determined by the National Security Council comprised of key ministers, with approval from two-thirds of the members of the control panel of the Bundestag lower chamber of parliament.
The involvement of this secret committee - which monitors the work of the BND as well as the domestic intelligence service and military counter-intelligence - in such decisions would be new for the country.
Observers believe the proposed greater parliamentary involvement may be intended to reassure members of the legislature who are sceptical about expanding the BND's powers.
A special intelligence situation would reportedly be defined as one where a threat to Germany or its allies is identified, for example through another country's preparations for war or increased hybrid attacks.
In this scenario, the agency would also be allowed to actively retaliate against cyberattacks and redirect data streams or shut down IT infrastructure from which attacks are launched.
The BND will reportedly also be permitted to evaluate data using artificial intelligence and to use facial recognition software.
Agency personnel will be allowed to enter homes to install espionage technology and to secretly manipulate and sabotage equipment, such as weapon parts, to render them harmless.
The amendment to the BND Act is still in its early stages, according to the media outlets.
One aim of the planned reform is to enable the agency to act more quickly and decisively against significant increases in hybrid threats, particularly from Russia.
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