Government reform would give the BND and BfV significantly broader operational and surveillance powers
Germany’s cabinet is due to meet on Wednesday to vote on a planned reform to give the foreign intelligence agency BND and domestic intelligence agency BfV significantly broader powers.
When the government took office last year, strengthening Germany’s intelligence capabilities was already one of its major security reform pledges. The aim was to give the country’s intelligence agencies considerably more powers than they currently have.
This is seen as necessary in light of the changed security environment following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and increasingly aggressive hybrid threats against Germany. Concerns over whether the close partnership with the US intelligence community can continue under the Trump administration also accelerated the reform.
According to German officials who spoke to Euractiv, there have so far been no restrictions on intelligence cooperation, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe is held in high regard by his German counterparts.
