The Bundestag has passed the largest reform of intelligence law in the history of the Federal Republic. From December 31st, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the BND are no longer only allowed to monitor, but also intervene themselves: secretly, without court and according to vague criteria.

Minor informants, comprehensive automated digital surveillance, covert searches and manipulation of objects: after a relatively short processing time for such a large law, the coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD decided to reform intelligence law on Friday. It comes into forceon December 31, 2026. On the same day, the old Federal Constitutional Protection Act, the old BND law and the Article 10 law end. The Federal Council still has to deal withHe doesn't have to agree. Some of the old rules regarding the implementation and control of measures will still apply until June 2027; everything should be running according to the new rules by the end of 2027 at the latest.

The government justifies the haste with a deadline from Karlsruhe. In 2024, the Federal Constitutional Court objected to part of the BND's telecommunications intelligenceonly continue to apply until the end of 2026. However, the deadline only affects this section. A package was decided that not only restructures the BND, but also the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. A coupling that was criticized several times in Parliament because of its short deadline and great scope. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) himself calls it one“Century Reform”.

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What the services will be allowed to do in the future

The core of the reform is the step from observation to action. With the so-called protective measures, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) is given the power to act covertly. The authoritymay in the futureMaking the means of crime unusable, redirecting or blocking data traffic, deleting or falsifying stored data and foisting false information on those involved. Direct coercion against people remains initially ruled out; in contrast to other measures, this is reserved for the police. In addition, there are interventions in IT systems, AI-supported data analysis, the biometric comparison of images with the Internet, secret entry into apartments and in exceptional cases16 and 17 year oldsas informants.

The BND is also allowed to intervene abroad, for exampleShut down servers of state hacker groups. He is allowed to store data from his strategic reconnaissance, i.e. comprehensive online surveillance, unseen - content for six months, metadata for 13 months. Other powersaddedthe Interior Committee only two days before the vote. Both services can require providers to “freeze” traffic data before the requirements for information are met. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution is allowed to investigate organized crime structures. And: anyone who photographs departments or employees and thereby knowingly endangers their security or the functioning of the service risks up to five years in prison. The only exception to this is “usual” media reporting. However, what exactly this includes remains unclear.

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The services are to be controlled by the Independent Control Council, which replaces the previous G 10 Commission and the supervision of the Federal Data Protection Commissioner. He replaces thatJudge's reservation, which applies to comparable police measures. In addition to federal judges, ministerial officials and long-standing members of relevant Bundestag committees are also eligible for election.

Open terms, wide scope

How far the powers extend depends on terms that the law hardly limits. The Mainz law professor Matthias Bäcker did this most thoroughlyConstitution blogshown for the protective measures. The reason is not an imminent crime, but a “particular threat”. According to his analysis, a threat already exists if the BfV assumes an anti-constitutional effort or activity for a foreign power - there does not have to be any concrete damage. The classification is valid for up to one year and can be renewed.

The law also leaves open who it can affect. The circle of target persons is not restricted at all, writes Bäcker. Third parties whose belongings or data are used for the threat, such as an unsuspecting freight forwarder, can be affected. “Objects” include not only things, but also information and communication processes. The priority of the police is hardly effective in the run-up to concrete dangers because the police are not even allowed to act there. The justification for the law itself requires that the measures must address structures and not just prevent individual acts.

It's similarly openCommittee versionelsewhere. For the investigation of organized crime, “clues” are sufficient; according to the reasoning, empirical knowledge is sufficient.

Secretly, permanently, without legal protection

Bäcker's central objection is that protective measures remain secret permanently. The law does not provide for subsequent notification, unlike in the case of intrusive surveillance. Anyone who suspects that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is behind property damage would have to claim this in court without any evidence. The advance control by the Control Council does not compensate for this because those affected are not involved and the reports remain abstract.

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Bäcker plays through what the wording would allow: a fake break-in in which vehicles belonging to a left-wing group are destroyed, or a hacker attack on an online medium that unknowingly spreads foreign disinformation.

The Federal Data Protection CommissionerMoritz Hennemann, from which oversight of the services will be withdrawn, suggested that all new powers should be limited in time and evaluated independently. He criticized the fact that the supervisory authorities can prohibit reports from the Control Council and that the BND never has to delete data from generally accessible sources, including leaks.28 organizationsThe Humanist Union considers the law to be largely unconstitutional. The Society for Civil Rightscheckeda legal action.

But there are also opposing voices. The specialist portal believes that secretly entering apartments has already been possible for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and has now been regulated expressly and with prior approval for the first timeLTOfirmly. Arrests and open searches are reserved for the police. There will, however, “certainly” be constitutional complaints. It doesn't happen quickly: the process to which the current deadline is based has expired2016 to 2024. The public will have to be patient with lawsuits and complaints before the Federal Constitutional Court for several years before parts of the law can be overturned there.

Internal upgrade: the tip of the iceberg

The reform does not stand alone. Dobrindt himself said in October:“We have to upgrade.” Since the end of 2025, the federal and state governments have tightened security laws in quick succession. The green and black ruledBaden-Württembergcreated the legal basis for Palantir's analytics software,Berlinallowed behavioral scanners, face searches and state trojans,Saxonyfollowed in June 2026. The federal government received onenew MAD lawand aFederal Police Actwith real-time biometric recognition. According to Saxony's Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU), the revised version will take place in autumn 2025eleven countriestheir police laws.

Secret service and police: Common cause despite the requirement of separation?

The tools are similar: biometric comparison with internet data, automated data analysis, government Trojans, secret entry into apartments. What the police received is now given to the secret services, whose intervention thresholds are lower and whose control takes place behind closed doors. There is also the right to assembly: in Hesse, for example, this was criticizedFundamental Rights CommitteeIn 2023, the black-green draft of an assembly law was largely repressive.

The government justifies the course with the threat from outside. Germany is the target of hybrid attacks, especially from Russia; Attack plans are often justthrough information from foreign servicesbeen revealed. They want to break away from this dependency.

Joy for the coalition, “stomach pain” for the Greens?

spoke in the final debateSonja Eichwede(SPD) solemnly spoke of a paradigm shift: the requirement of separation continues, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is only allowed to act if the police cannot, and active measures are checked in advance. Dobrindt called the accusation of a secret police forgotten by history. Clara Bünger (left) countered that the minister was creating one“new German secret police”; the law will fail in Karlsruhe.

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The Greens are in between. Konstantin von Notz spoke of one“Good day for the security of the Federal Republic”: His group agrees with the BND law and the Control Council, but not with the Constitutional Protection Act. Because the coalition rejected a separate vote, 69 Greens abstained and two voted no. In the Interior Committee they supported the coalition's amendment and its resolution and declared the BND part eligible for approval. HerApplicationThe attempt to remove the protective measures failed.

This means that the Greens are supporting the majority of the restructuring, including those parts that data protection officers and civil rights organizations criticize. This fits with their role in the states: In Saxony, the CDU accused them of having similar police lawsto contribute elsewhere.

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