Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) has announced plans to equip the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) with new powers to counter hybrid threats. He told the newspapers of the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND, Monday editions) that he aims for “the expansion of the BfV into a real intelligence service.”
According to Dobrindt, the agency “should receive operational capabilities that, for example, enable it to take active defensive measures against cyberattacks from abroad and to disrupt an attacker or destroy their infrastructure.” He added that he also seeks “operational powers” for the BfV in the analog sphere, “for example, when it comes to preventing sensitive information from falling into the hands of foreign powers.”
The federal government is currently coordinating these plans, he said. “We have all become accustomed to the term ‘intelligence service’ for the for the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, and it also describes its main activity: collecting information,” Dobrindt noted. But for a modern agency with defensive functions, he believes this is not sufficient.
Given the rise of hybrid threats from both domestic and foreign sources, the defensive capabilities of all security agencies must be strengthened, the interior minister explained. “We have already established a joint hybrid defense center. There, we bring together different actors to find responses to hybrid threats,” he said. This defense center will be housed within the BfV and is based on the model of the Joint Counter-Terrorism Center.
Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), in light of the growing threat of cyberattacks, had already announced in mid-December in the Bundestag that the government intends to expand the powers of security agencies in order to respond. Among other things, the possibility is being examined “to not only identify the points of origin of these attacks via the internet, but also to damage them,” he said. It must be reviewed whether additional legal frameworks are required for this.
A few days earlier, the government had held Russia responsible for a cyberattack on Deutsche Flugsicherung, as well as for systematic disinformation campaigns during the Bundestag election in February. These incidents were clearly attributed to the Russian military intelligence agency GRU, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said at the time.
From breaking news to thought-provoking opinion pieces, our newsletter keeps you informed & engaged.
