German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced on Wednesday, October 9th, that security checks would be tightened for staff working in sensitive areas of government in the aftermath of a series of acts of espionage and sabotage.
“The threat to our democracy from espionage and sabotage has reached a new dimension. Russian aggression in Europe has fundamentally changed the security situation. … Germany is in the sights of intelligence services from other states,” Nancy Faeser said, announcing a draft law that will expand security review measures for staff in sensitive fields, such as IT and communications, in government, and in “critical infrastructure” like railways and power supply control centres.
Germany has suspected both Russia and China of being involved in acts of espionage and sabotage. The animosity between Berlin and Moscow has grown since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two-and-a-half years ago, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz unveiled a strategy towards ‘de-risking’ Germany’s economic relationship with China, calling Beijing a “partner, competitor and systemic rival.”
A Chinese woman accused of spying on Germany’s defence industry was arrested in Leipzig at the beginning of October. She had reportedly sent information on flights, cargo, and passengers at the Leipzig airport to an employee of a Chinese secret service—namely Jian Guo, the former parliamentary assistant to German MEP Maximilian Krah of the AfD party. Guo was himself arrested in April on suspicion of espionage. He is believed to have obtained information on the European Parliament and Chinese dissidents in Germany.
There have also been repeated suspected sabotage efforts near German military sites, as well as espionage activities attributed to Russian intelligence.
In April, investigators arrested two German-Russian men on suspicion of spying for Russia and planning attacks in Germany—including on U.S. army facilities—to undermine military support for Ukraine. Russian saboteurs were allegedly behind an arson attack in May on a Berlin factory owned by German metal manufacturer Diehl, which manufactures air defence systems used by Ukraine. The United States and Germany reportedly foiled a Russian assassination attempt against the head of the Rheinmetall arms manufacturer which has been producing artillery shells and military vehicles for Ukraine.
Suspicious drones spotted above German military sites and critical infrastructure have also been attributed to Russia. Russian spies also hacked a discussion between high-ranking German officers earlier this year, gaining sensitive information, although that was mainly due to the severe security failures of the Germans.
The cabinet approved the bill on new security checks on Wednesday, and parliament must now pass it before the new measures become law.
The measure will also include extra online checks, eg. on social media platforms that can be used for “disseminating extremist content,” the ministry said. The checks will include whether candidates for sensitive jobs had made “problematic statements” on online networks. “We will not allow extremists to sabotage our democratic constitutional state from within,” said Faeser.
The interior minister did not elaborate on what she meant by “problematic statements,” but the leftist-liberal government has not been shy about trying to shut down opposition voices. It was Faeser herself who tried to ban a right-wing magazine for “inciting hatred” and “aggressively propagating the toppling of the political order,” but a court ruling overturned the ban on the grounds of the need to protect free speech.
With regard to social media, the minister has warned that “when it comes to measures against disinformation, it is about nothing less than protecting our democracy.” A so-called citizens’ forum recently set up by the ministry has recommended punishing individuals who spread “disinformation.”
The increasing popularity of populist, right-wing parties all across Europe has been partly blamed on “fake news” being spread on social media by “pro-Russian” parties—and by Russia itself. The German government has used this argument to try and silence the media, as well as the anti-establishment opposition AfD party which has harshly criticised the government for its incompetent handling of the crises Germany is facing.
