Germany's parliament has approved a major overhaul of intelligence law that gives the foreign and domestic services greater powers to combat espionage, terrorism and sabotage, the BBC reported. In the Bundestag, 309 members voted in favour, 190 against and 71 abstained. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, who championed the bill, called it a "reform of the century," needed because of rising threats from foreign powers. The Left Party's security spokeswoman, Clara Bünger, said Dobrindt was creating a new German secret police. The legislation expands the authority of the BND, the federal foreign intelligence service, and the BfV, the domestic Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
For historical reasons, German intelligence has mainly focused on gathering information rather than acting on it. In future, BND officers will be able to conduct covert operations abroad, including sabotage. That could include paralysing the servers of state-sponsored hacker groups, disrupting disinformation networks, or disrupting supply chains used for such work, the BBC reported. The change is a break with a post-war tradition of keeping spies at a greater distance from operational activity, a caution rooted in Germany's 20th-century history. Supporters present the new tools as a response to "hybrid threats" that mix espionage, cyber operations and sabotage. Opponents argue that the same tools, once granted, can be turned inward or used with too little oversight.
The vote was comfortable but not consensual. Nearly 200 lawmakers opposed the bill, and the Left Party's language about a "secret police" is a reminder of how raw the subject remains in German politics. Dobrindt's "reform of the century" framing treats the shift as overdue modernization. The BBC account is of a law already passed, not of a first covert operation under the new rules, and not of a documented abuse. What the statute now allows, and how those powers will be supervised, will be tested only when the services begin to use them.
The verified news is a parliamentary vote and a described expansion of BND and BfV powers, including covert action abroad. It is not evidence that a particular foreign operation has already been launched, and it is not a settlement of the argument between Dobrindt and Bünger about what kind of agency Germany is creating. The 309-190-71 split shows a clear majority but also a sizable bloc that refused to go along, which is why Bünger's "secret police" warning and Dobrindt's "reform of the century" line are now the two poles of the public argument, even before the first operation under the new statute is disclosed.