Berlin is preparing for a historic turn in its information policy, strengthening the powers of its external secret service in the face of fears of a possible strategic rupture with the USA
Germany is preparing a significant reinforcement of its external intelligence agency, giving it broader powers, in a context of growing fears about a possible rupture with the United States.
The initiative comes at a time when leaders in Germany and other European countries fear that US President Donald Trump may suspend the sharing of secret information, on which Europe largely depends, or use this dependence as an instrument of pressure.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz now intends to strengthen and make the external intelligence service more flexible, granting it greater authority to carry out acts of sabotage, conduct offensive cyber operations and intensify espionage activities.
In Berlin, several political leaders argue that, just as European countries need to deeply reinforce their armed forces to gain autonomy, the same must happen with the secret services.
“We want to continue to work closely with the Americans,” said Marc Henrichmann, chairman of a special Bundestag commission that oversees intelligence services, in . “But if a president [dos EUA]whoever it is, decides in the future to go it alone, without the Europeans (…) then we need to be able to support ourselves on our own”, he highlighted.
According to German leaders cited by POLITICO, the urgency is particularly felt in Germany, where the foreign intelligence service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), is subject to tighter legal restrictions than its European counterparts. These limitations result from safeguards introduced after the Second World War, designed to prevent the repetition of abuses committed by the Nazi espionage apparatus.
However, these same restrictions ended up increasing German dependence on the United States for intelligence gathering, which is now seen as a strategic risk.
“In the world of intelligence, the question always arises: what do you offer me, what do I offer you?”, highlighted Henrichmann. “And, of course, if Germany is just the recipient, the risk is simply too high.”
The BND was founded in 1956 with legal limitations designed to prevent a repeat of the abuses perpetrated by the Gestapo and Schutzstaffel, although many of its initial agents were former members of the Nazi regime.
