On Monday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Paul-Löbe-Haus, the Parliamentary Oversight Panel questioned the presidents of the federal government’s three intelligence services in a public session, held once a year. BND President Martin Jäger said Russia is waging a shadow war against Germany, one that is above all about intimidation. Germany is at risk of being drawn into a violent conflict; he considers a major attack unlikely. Sinan Selen, president of the Verfassungsschutz, warned of espionage, sabotage and a readiness for killing operations, and the president of the Military Counterintelligence Service, Martina Rosenberg, warned of concrete attacks where earlier only an abstract threat was described. The planned reform of the agencies was also discussed. Jäger spoke of a realignment of the BND, Selen of closer cooperation with the BND. One report cites as an example of Russian activity a drone packed with explosives at Halle/Leipzig airport in early August; we found this claim in only one source.
The statements are rare, because the panel’s sessions are otherwise secret. They provide the justification for a law that would give the agencies more powers, and for higher spending on defense. At the same time, oversight is thinly staffed: the panel seats only members from the CDU/CSU, the SPD and the Greens, because AfD and Left Party candidates did not win a majority.
For most readers, nothing changes in daily life. Those affected are operators of critical infrastructure, companies with sensitive data, and administrations that must expect warnings about sabotage and disinformation. Whoever gives security agencies more rights is, in the end, also deciding about their own data.
Russia is already acting, not just in theory: sabotage, disinformation ahead of elections, murder plots. Anyone who takes that seriously must give the agencies the tools their adversaries already have.
The chiefs lobbied almost unchallenged for more rights while oversight grows weaker. More powers without more supervision are the risk, not the solution.
Two things are worth taking from Monday. First: it is rare for an intelligence chief to say in public that Germany is already in a shadow war yet does not expect a major attack. The two belong together: intimidation below the threshold of war. Second: the draft bill is the real test. Watch whether it expands powers and oversight together or only the powers.
Handelsblatt · WirtschaftsWoche · Nordwest-Zeitung · taz · ORF · netzpolitik.org · Bundestag (hearing notice and hib) (all Oct. 5) · Halle/Leipzig drone from one source only · verbatim transcript not checked
BND chief: Russia is waging a “shadow war” against Germany. The agencies lobby for more powers
The heads of the BND, the Verfassungsschutz and the MAD said in public, in the Bundestag, what is usually said only behind closed doors. They warned of sabotage and killing operations. And they asked for new powers.
For three hours, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the heads of the federal government’s three intelligence services sat on Monday in the Paul-Löbe-Haus before the Parliamentary Oversight Panel. A public hearing is held only once a year; by netzpolitik.org’s count it was the tenth. BND President Martin Jäger said Russia is waging a shadow war against Germany, one that is above all about intimidation. The Federal Republic is at risk of being drawn into a violent conflict with Russia. A major Russian attack, however, he considers unlikely, according to taz. Sinan Selen, president of the Verfassungsschutz, the domestic intelligence agency, warned of espionage and of Moscow’s readiness for sabotage and killing operations. The president of the Military Counterintelligence Service, Martina Rosenberg, said the country now faces concrete attacks; earlier, officials had spoken of an abstract threat.
The hearing was also a sales pitch. An amending bill is planned that would widen the powers of the Verfassungsschutz and the BND. Jäger spoke of a “realignment of the Federal Intelligence Service,” and Selen stressed the close cooperation between the BND and the Verfassungsschutz. Netzpolitik.org criticized that the agency heads were able to lobby for more powers largely unchallenged. Left Party MP Clara Bünger warned, according to taz, against widening powers while weakening parliamentary oversight at the same time. The panel itself seats, in this parliamentary term, only members from the CDU/CSU, the SPD and the Greens; candidates from the AfD and the Left Party failed to win the required majority in the Bundestag.