Germany is preparing a reform of its intelligence law that would let the BND and domestic security service take active countermeasures in defined threat scenarios, including disruption of hostile drones and related industrial facilities. The draft, developed by the Interior Ministry, is expected to go before the cabinet in the coming week and would expand powers beyond observation into direct intervention against threats affecting German airports and other critical sites.
The planned overhaul would shift Germany further away from its traditional separation between intelligence gathering and policing. Reported options include manipulation, deception, sabotage and cyber operations, as well as measures aimed at disabling adversary IT systems, diverting data flows or interfering with weapon systems and infrastructure.
Marc Henrichmann, who chairs the parliamentary control panel overseeing the services, has argued that the agencies should ideally be able to disable a Russian attack drone or even the factory producing it before it poses a threat to Germany. The proposal remains at the draft stage and still requires cabinet review before it can advance to parliament.