German spy agency BND should be able to launch cyberattacks, Chancellor Merz's top aide says

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN (AA) - A top aide to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called for expanded powers for Germany’s foreign intelligence service (BND), saying it should be able to actively counter cyberattacks rather than merely monitor them.

Thorsten Frei, the chancellor’s chief of staff and minister for special tasks, told ntv late Monday that the BND must undergo a “paradigm shift” to meet new security threats in a world marked by increased tensions and conflicts.

"We are currently working to improve not only the financial and personnel resources of our intelligence services, but above all to upgrade their technological capabilities and enable the necessary legal framework,” he said, arguing that the BND should be able to do what other European partners have been doing for years.

Asked whether this would include capabilities similar to French services – such as deactivating servers in a Russian city or elsewhere abroad during cyberattacks – Frei responded affirmatively. "Yes, that's what I was talking about," the conservative politician said. "In the future, it will not be enough if we exclusively gather intelligence. Rather, the BND should also have operational capabilities and responsibilities."

Last weekend, BND chief Martin Jaeger said at the Munich Security Conference that Western responses to Russia's hybrid warfare, including cyberattacks, have been insufficient. He suggested that Western countries should more frequently demonstrate their ability to respond in kind. "We should much more often prove that we would be able to do very similar things to make the other side also feel the pain," he said.