The German cabinet has approved measures that will give intelligence agencies new powers to monitor communications and thwart the actions of foreign adversaries due to what authorities say is a growing threat from cyber and hybrid attacks, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
The measures, which have been under discussion for months, will give the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS), responsible for foreign intelligence, and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (FIS), responsible for domestic intelligence, broader powers to access digital communications, collect data and carry out active operations to thwart attacks.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrin said that the measures, which will also include the use of artificial intelligence, will “revolutionize "We are turning our intelligence services into real secret services," he told a press conference in Berlin. He said it would be the first time the agencies would be given operational powers. The measures, which would give the Federal Intelligence Service broad powers to collect data, have drawn criticism from some civil rights groups. Konstantin von Notz of the opposition Green party supported the expansion of the Federal Intelligence Service's powers in light of the growing number of threats. But he said that giving such expanded powers to domestic security services "raises concerns from a rule of law perspective."
German intelligence services were set up after World War II, when memories of the Nazi regime were still strong, and have traditionally had more limited powers than those of allies such as France, Britain and the United States.
But amid warnings of growing threats from countries such as Russia and Iran, pressure has grown on German services to expand their traditional role of intelligence analysis and to be given more powers to take concrete action against attacks.
Nina Warken, the head of Friedrich Merz's office, said Germany was facing a "real, very serious" threat of hybrid attacks from foreign powers and can no longer rely on the intelligence services of its allies for its security.
Last week, a suspected attack was prevented after a drone loaded with explosives was found at Leipzig airport in eastern Germany. Meanwhile, unidentified reconnaissance drones have been regularly spotted over military bases and other sites.
Under the plan, which still needs to be approved by parliament, security services will be able to intervene in the attackers' infrastructure, for example by secretly disarming explosives so that they can continue their surveillance operations. In cyberspace, they will be able, under strictly defined conditions, to penetrate the attackers' information systems, copy or delete data and block tools used by foreign countries in their campaigns.
The draft also introduces new rules on the use of state spyware for online surveillance and for tracking communications. Telecommunications companies, digital platforms, transport operators and financial intermediaries could be required to provide data, and if they refuse, they could be fined and inspected on the spot.
The measures would create a more detailed legal basis for cyber investigations and centralize control over them in the Independent Oversight Board - an external oversight body that currently oversees the Fed's electronic intelligence.