Bundestag grants BND and BfV powers to hack and disrupt threats

Germany's Bundestag approved sweeping new powers for the country's intelligence agencies on Friday, allowing them to hack and disrupt adversaries under specified conditions. The vote was 308 to 190, with 71 abstentions.

The governing Christian Democrats and Social Democrats backed the reform. The far-right Alternative for Germany and Die Linke opposed it.

The changes move the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), the foreign intelligence agency, and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the domestic service, beyond gathering and analysing information to actively disrupting certain threats. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described the legislation as a "reform of the century", arguing that Germany needed stronger intelligence services to confront terrorism and hostile foreign operations.

The government says the reform closes a gap in Germany's security system: agencies could sometimes identify a threat but lacked the authority to intervene, including when no other agency was responsible or able to act. Under the new framework the BfV could take technical measures against serious threats, such as deleting stolen information from an attacker's server. For the BND, the expanded powers allow interventions against threats abroad, including disrupting servers used by state-backed hackers.

The approval comes months after German authorities found an explosive-laden drone near a cargo plane belonging to the Ukrainian firm Antonov Airlines at Leipzig-Halle airport in August, and linked the incident to Moscow. Berlin formally accused Russia of attempting an attack at the state-owned facility; Dobrindt said the drone was consistent with Russian technology. Russia denied involvement. The accusation led to the closure of the Russian Consulate General in Bonn and the Russian House in Berlin, and Moscow ordered the closure of a German consulate in St Petersburg and the Goethe-Institut.

"The security reality has changed fundamentally in recent years," said Florian Bigge, programme director at think tank Korber-Stiftung, who added that "Russia is the main trigger: sabotage, cyberattacks and drones."

Dobrindt said the changes put German agencies on an equal footing with their European partners. Die Linke argued in a parliamentary motion that key provisions failed to meet constitutional standards for intrusive surveillance, warning the powers would effectively create a German secret police force, a prospect with particular resonance for citizens who lived under the Stasi, East Germany's secret police between 1950 and 1990.

The main provisions are scheduled to take effect on December 31, pending completion of the legislative process.