Germany’s Bundestag has voted to widen what the country’s spy agencies can do, giving them authority to hack into and disrupt adversaries when specified conditions are met. The government says the move is needed as it works to counter espionage and cyberattacks.
Lawmakers passed the legislation on Friday by 308 votes to 190, with 71 abstentions. The governing Christian Democrats and Social Democrats backed the reform, while the far-right Alternative for Germany and Die Linke, also known as the Left Party, voted against it.
Expanded roles for the BND and BfV
The reform extends the remit of the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), its domestic service. Until now, both bodies have mainly been tasked with collecting and analysing information. Under the changes, they can actively work to disrupt certain threats.
The government argues that a gap existed: agencies could sometimes identify a danger but had no power to act, including in cases where no other body was responsible or able to step in. Under the new framework, the BfV could take technical steps against serious threats, such as deleting stolen data from an attacker’s server. The BND would be able to act against threats abroad, including disrupting servers used by state-backed hackers.
During earlier debates, ministers argued that the BND should not have to stand by when other authorities cannot avert a particularly serious threat. Experts speaking to the Bundestag said Berlin’s capabilities “lack modern intervention powers” compared with Western counterparts.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt called the legislation a “reform of the century”. He argued that Germany needed stronger intelligence services to confront terrorism and hostile foreign operations, and said the changes would place German agencies on an equal footing with their European partners.
Drone incident and Russia dispute behind the push
The vote follows a drone incident at Leipzig-Halle airport in August. German authorities found an explosive-laden drone near a cargo plane belonging to the Ukrainian firm Antonov Airlines and linked the incident to Moscow. Berlin formally accused Russia of attempting an attack on the state-owned facility.
Dobrindt said the intelligence community had determined that the drone found at the airport was consistent with Russian technology. Russia denied any involvement. The dispute led to the closure of the Russian Consulate General in Bonn and the Russian House cultural centre in Berlin. Moscow responded by ordering the closure of a German consulate in St Petersburg and the Goethe-Institut.
Florian Bigge, programme director at the think tank Korber-Stiftung, said the reform was closely tied to Germany’s foreign policy challenges since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He called it a direct result of the Zeitenwende, or epochal change. Bigge said the BND had publicly sought expanded powers since 2024, and that the vote came amid an “increasingly uncertain international order”.
Opposition concerns over privacy and surveillance
Die Linke has objected to the bill, raising concerns about privacy and the historic separation between intelligence gathering and police work. In a parliamentary motion, the party argued that key provisions did not meet constitutional standards for intrusive surveillance. It warned that the powers would effectively create a German secret police, a prospect with particular resonance for people who lived under the Stasi, East Germany’s secret police from 1950 to 1990.
In September, Die Linke won 25.7 percent of the vote in the Berlin city-state parliament election. That result allowed the party to appoint a mayor after forming a coalition government.
Bigge said criticism so far has come mainly from lawmakers and civil liberties groups, adding that “a broader public debate may still come” as the state expands what it can do abroad. He said “Germans want more engagement”, but cautioned that “they mean diplomacy”.
The main provisions are scheduled to take effect on December 31, pending completion of the legislative process.
