Germany’s Bundestag, the federal parliament, is scheduled to vote Friday on a bill that would give intelligence services limited intervention powers and set data-retention rules, drawing warnings over civil liberties.
The proposal covers the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany’s foreign intelligence service, and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the domestic agency. The government says it responds to a worsening security picture involving espionage, sabotage and hybrid attacks. Cabinet approved the draft in August, continuing a reform package EconoTimes covered in an earlier report on Germany’s intelligence expansion plan.
The proposed authority would let the services act in cases where police or other authorities are less equipped to prevent a threat, according to the government. Its example is disabling an overseas server before it can carry out a cyberattack. A Bundestag account says the BfV’s powers would remain covert measures “without coercion against persons.” An Independent Oversight Council would review the most intrusive individual operations before they proceed, while parliamentary scrutiny would continue.
Under the bill, the BND could keep communications content for as long as six months and related metadata for as long as 12 months. The latter includes IP addresses and the time and duration of communications, the government says. The measure also sets rules for using artificial intelligence to analyze data.
At an Oct. 12 parliamentary hearing, Professor Matthias Bäcker of Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz argued that the bill’s collection targets were too broad, storage could capture too much information and some access safeguards were insufficient. Franziska Görlitz of the Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte said extensive digital surveillance and a weaker boundary between intelligence, police and military roles could threaten fundamental rights. Professor Markus Löffelmann said emerging threats justify updated authorities but warned that parts of the bill could test constitutional limits.
The government says the retention periods would put Germany on an equal footing with partner countries. The Bundesrat called for an assessment of the staffing, organizational, technical and financial costs states expect to face.
The Bundestag has scheduled a one-hour debate before the vote Friday, Nov. 13.
