The German government has approved a draft law that would significantly expand the powers of the country’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) amid growing hybrid threats.

Axar.az reports, citing German media, that the reform would, for the first time, allow German intelligence services to take operational action themselves in clearly defined cases.

For example, the BND could manipulate the IT infrastructure of a foreign power during an ongoing cyberattack or disinformation campaign against Germany. In another example, BfV officers could enter an apartment to replace components used to make explosives with harmless substances.

The reform would also expand the agencies’ powers in the digital sphere. From next year, subject to Bundestag approval, the BND and BfV could conduct online searches of devices and access data stored on them. The so-called source telecommunications surveillance (Quellen-TKÜ), which allows encrypted communications to be monitored, would also be expanded to include previously stored content.

The draft also provides for a graduated system governing access to devices and covert interference with private computer systems, with stricter requirements and stronger oversight for more extensive forms of access.

At the same time, oversight of the intelligence services would be strengthened, with the Independent Control Council taking on a greater role in supervising their activities.

The German government says the reform is intended to enable the country’s intelligence services to respond more actively to threats and bring their legal powers in some areas closer to those of other European intelligence agencies.