A year ago, an employee of the Federal Intelligence Service was arrested on suspicion of espionage. A new law is intended to prevent such cases in advance.
The Federal Intelligence Service (BND) should be able to better protect itself against espionage from its own ranks. This goal is pursued by a reform of the BND law, which the Bundestag passed in the evening. This includes, among other things, personal, bag and vehicle checks on employees of the foreign secret service that are independent of suspicion.
Last December, a BND employee was arrested in Berlin on suspicion of espionage. After the Russian attack on Ukraine, he is said to have passed on information from his work environment to Moscow.
The Bundestag also restricted the German intelligence services’ data transfer to the police and public prosecutor’s office. In doing so, the MPs are complying with the requirements of the Federal Constitutional Court. The Karlsruhe judges decided last year that the previous transmission powers went too far and violated the rights of those affected.
Traffic light coalition wants further changes
In the future, the BND, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) will only be allowed to pass on data and information under certain conditions – for example when it comes to particularly serious crimes. Without a new regulation, the transfer of such data would have had to be stopped completely at the end of the year.
The change in the law is therefore “important for the security architecture of our country,” explained Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD). Effective cooperation between security authorities is essential to protect democracy and the country.
In a second step, the traffic light coalition wants to decide on further changes next year – including concrete rules for the use of so-called informants who provide information from extremist circles, or an improvement in parliamentary control of intelligence services.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
