Overview
- The Chancellery is circulating a draft to overhaul the BND law that is in inter-ministerial consultation with no set timetable for cabinet submission.
- The proposal would authorize offensive measures such as hackbacks, covert entries to install spyware, access to vehicle location and route data, and limited permission for certain offenses abroad.
- At the DE-CIX node, the BND could analyze communication contents and retain intercepted data for up to six months, with searches across emails and chats covering roughly 30% of traffic in scope.
- Activation of the new tools would require a declaration of a special intelligence situation by a National Security Council and a two-thirds approval by the Parliamentary Control Panel.
- The government cites hybrid threats and a push for strategic autonomy from U.S. intelligence as the rationale, while civil-liberties groups flag privacy risks and press-freedom concerns.