Germany’s domestic intelligence agency could soon be authorised to secretly alter digital data, hack into private computers and mobile phones, enter homes without occupants’ knowledge, recruit 16- and 17-year-olds as informants, and never inform citizens that they had been subjected to surveillance.
The draft law, prepared by Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, would dramatically expand the powers of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, BfV), Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.
The plans have already triggered fierce criticism from opposition politicians and commentators, who warn they would hand Germany’s domestic intelligence agency unprecedented powers.
Under the proposals, the domestic intelligence agency would no longer be limited to collecting information, but could actively intervene in communications and IT systems, including interrupting, redirecting, or altering data transmissions. Stored digital information could also be deleted or manipulated.
The interior ministry argues that the reforms are necessary because of an increasing domestic and international security threat.
The draft would also considerably expand the agency’s surveillance powers by permitting access to private IT systems and, under certain conditions, the covert entry of private homes.
While most operations would require approval from an independent oversight body, urgent cases could be authorised immediately by the agency’s leadership.
Telecommunications companies and digital service providers could be required to assist intelligence operations. Individuals affected by surveillance may never learn that the state accessed their communications, personal data or even their homes.
One proposal that has attracted particular criticism would allow the BfV, in exceptional circumstances, to recruit 16- and 17-year-olds as confidential informants. The government justifies the measure by pointing to the increasingly young age of some extremist groups.
The plans have triggered strong criticism.
The leader of the liberal FDP, Wolfgang Kubicki, argued that the proposal crossed “moral and ethical boundaries.” He questioned how a state that considers minors insufficiently mature to use social media could at the same time recruit them as “paid spies.”
Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) co-leader Alice Weidel also condemned the draft, writing on X that the intelligence service would soon be officially permitted to “lie, forge, and use deepfakes.” She warned that if state authorities began falsifying information, “the rule of law is finished.”
Conservative commentator and publisher Roland Tichy likewise criticised the proposals, arguing that they would introduce “the methods of a brutal secret service” into Germany and could enable innocent people to become suspects through covert digital manipulation.
The draft legislation must first be approved by the government before being submitted to the Bundestag.
