The key facts

  • The CDU/CSU and SPD have agreed on expanding the powers of the BND and BfV
  • The BND will be able to secretly enter apartments in Germany after prior review by the Independent Control Council
  • The services will gain the right to require telecommunications companies to temporarily retain communications data

The coalition's agreed amendments

Germany's ruling parties — the CDU/CSU and the SPD — have agreed on expanding the powers of the intelligence services, including the right of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) to secretly enter apartments within the country. This was reported by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung with reference to an amendment by the coalition parliamentary groups to the reform of legislation on the intelligence services.

What exactly is changing

According to the document, the BND will be able to enter homes in order to prepare or carry out intelligence operations. For apartments in Germany and the homes of German citizens abroad, a restriction is provided: the service must officially announce its visit in advance, and its decision must first be reviewed by the Independent Control Council. Thus, covert entry is permitted, but is placed under the prior oversight of a separate body — it is precisely this combination that distinguishes the new provision from the previous arrangement, under which the BND had no such powers.

BfV powers and communications data

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) will gain greater latitude in combating extremism: counterintelligence will be able to study the structures of organized crime if there are concrete indications that persons under surveillance are receiving support from them. In addition, the BND and the BfV will receive a new tool for working with telephone and internet data — the services will be able to require telecommunications companies, upon request, to temporarily retain existing communications data if there are concrete grounds to believe it will be needed for their work but the legal conditions for storing it are not yet in place.

Context

The Gazeta.Ru article, which describes the content of the amendments, ends with a mention that the former German chancellor previously warned of the threat of a split in German society; the details of that statement are not given in the publication. The available reports do not state the opposition's position, the timeline for consideration of the amendments in the Bundestag, or possible legal challenges.