With new reform, foreign service ( BND) gains access to active intervention by attacking cybersystems, blocking weapons supplies and using Artificial Intelligence – while internal service ( Get a controversial permit to sneak into the apartment.
For historical reasons, information services in the Federal Republic of Germany have always paid attention to the fact that they are limited to collecting information and not taking active operations themselves. But following the adoption of the federal government’s almost 700-page federal bill, which is expected to be passed to the Bundestarat (the Federal Council, the upper room representing 16 German launcheds) in the coming weeks, this practice is changing radically, writes Berlin’s newspaper Tagespiegel, in its Saturday edition, Television broadcasts.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrendt is convinced that he has achieved a great success in parliament, naming information services reform as a set of the century. According to him and the federal government, the goal is that the Federal Intelligence Service ( BND), Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( BfV) and Military Intelligence Service ( MAD is transformed into real secret service. This reform comes at a time when threats from international terrorism and foreign powers — as BND President Martin Jäger described, the shadow war Russia is waging against Germany — are deemed very concrete. In addition to the expectations of international partners for more independence and support from Germany, the reform was mandatory even for legal reasons, since the Federal Constitutional Court had set the government a deadline by the end of the year to improve the legal framework for the BND.
If the law is eventually adopted, German secret services will gain new and very concrete competencies. Foreign service, BND will not in the future be enough to collect information, but it will have permission for active intervention. In certain situations of danger, BND agents will dare attack items and information technology systems, for example, to paralyse groups of hackers or to block arms supply chains. People are specifically excluded from these operations, which means there will be no license to kill. In addition, the UK will have permission to store the data collected longer: six months for content and 13 months for so-called data defects, while telecommunications providers may be forced to store traffic data for three months. And BND is allowed to use artificial intelligence tools ( IA, among other things, for identifying the designated persons.
Even broader and more controversial are new permits for the interior service, the Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution (BfV). Its employees, after a preliminary approval, will in the future dare to sneak into residences to collect data on the scene or make weapons harmless. They will have permission to carry out secret measures active against items or systems, manipulating possible means of committing criminal acts, redirecting data during possible cyber attacks and offering suspects false information. In the digital field, BfV will be allowed to read private equipment, track encrypted telecommunications and conduct tests through IA systems. Also, advocates of the constitution will be able to request information on communication or movements from companies such as car producers or payment services providers. Another innovation is that, in certain cases, even young people aged 16 will be allowed to engage as informants, because extremist and terrorist networks have become younger and younger.
However, the law also imposes clear control mechanisms and restrictions on services. Especially sensitive measures can be taken by the BND and the BfV only after the Independent Control Council has previously ascertained their legality. Also, active measures dare not bring negative social or professional consequences to anyone, the professional secret of doctors, psychotherapists, lawyers, and journalists enjoys special protection.
The reform has sparked strong criticism on the political scene. The Party (left) accuses Minister Dobrendt of creating a new German secret police officer and is abolishing the historic division between police and secret services, creating an uncontrollable device that violates fundamental rights. On the other hand, the Greenwaters view reform as necessary in the face of security challenges, but criticises the fact that the BfV border with police work remains unclear and that transparency of legal protection for affected citizens has been implemented in a flawed way./Telegraphy/