Germany Expands Powers of Intelligence and Special Services

Germany plans to expand the powers of its secret services and intelligence agencies, Bild informs. The Interior Minister believes that agents should not simply gather information but also actively intervene.

For example, agents should be given the ability to neutralize adversaries in the event of cyberattacks from abroad, including by overloading the enemy's communication lines with emails and digital requests. They will also be allowed to sabotage the designs or components of drones, which was previously prohibited.

A similar situation applies to military aircraft: German spies will be able to sabotage software updates in neighboring countries.

The German government also wants to improve surveillance of terrorist groups, possibly by eavesdropping on mobile phones abroad. Furthermore, classified data on terrorists will be stored longer. Previously, it sometimes had to be destroyed after six months.