German cabinet approves plan to grant more powers to spy services

BERLIN, Aug 12 - Germany's cabinet approved measures on Wednesday to grant intelligence services new powers to hack communications and disrupt foreign adversaries' operations to counter what officials say is a growing threat from cyber and hybrid attacks.

The measures, which have been under discussion for months, would allow both the BND, the foreign intelligence service, and the BfV, the domestic security service, broader authority to access digital communications, collect data and carry out active operations to thwart attacks.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the measures, which would incorporate artificial intelligence tools, would "revolutionize Germany's security architecture".

"We are transforming our intelligence services into genuine secret services," he told a news conference in Berlin, saying that for the first time, the agencies would be given operational powers.

The measures, which would grant the BfV wide powers to collect data, have drawn criticism from some civil liberties groups. Konstantin von Notz, from the opposition Greens party, supported giving expanded powers to the BND given the growing range of threats. But he said granting the domestic security services similar expanded powers was "a cause for concern in terms of the rule of law."

Germany's intelligence services, created after World War Two when memories of the Nazi regime were still fresh, have traditionally had more circumscribed powers than the equivalents of allies such as France, Britain or the United States.

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But amid warnings of rising threats from countries including Russia and Iran, there has been pressure to enhance their traditional role of information analysis with more authority to take concrete action to counter attacks.

Nina Warken, head of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Chancellery, said Germany faced a "real, very acute" danger from hybrid attacks by foreign powers and could no longer rely on the intelligence services of allies for its security.

Last week, a suspected attack was avoided when a drone loaded with explosives was discovered at Leipzig airport in eastern Germany, while unidentified surveillance drones have regularly been spotted above military bases and other sites.

Under the plan, which must still be approved in parliament, security services could interfere with attackers' infrastructure, such as secretly disabling explosives to allow surveillance operations to proceed.

In cyberspace, they would have authority, under strict thresholds, to hack into attackers' IT systems, copy or delete data, and disable tools used in campaigns by foreign states, including during specific threat situations such as large-scale cyber operations.

The draft also sets new rules for the use of state spyware in online searches and so-called source telecommunications surveillance.

Telecoms, digital platforms, transport operators and financial intermediaries could be ordered to hand over data, backed by fines and on-site inspections.

The measures would create more detailed legal bases for cyber investigations, and would centralize control under the Independent Control Council, an external supervisory body that currently oversees the BND's signals intelligence. REUTERS