Germany set to enact most sweeping intelligence reforms since World War II
August 13, 2026 5 Comments
GERMANY IS ONE CLOSER to putting in motion the broadest and most wide-reaching reforms of its intelligence services since the end of World War II, which are expected to completely transform the country’s spy agencies. Among other powers, Germany’s two covert intelligence agencies will be given the ability to engage in offensive intelligence that includes carrying out sabotage and offensive information operations abroad.
Earlier this week, the proposed reforms were approved by the Federal Cabinet, which consists of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and 17 senior federal ministers. Speaking in Berlin about the proposed reforms, Germany’s Minister of the Interior, Alexander Dobrindt (pictured), said on Wednesday that the nation’s intelligence services will be “turned into genuine secret services”. He went on to describe the proposed changes as “a revolution” in the history of German national security.
The proposed reforms apply to Germany’s two covert intelligence agencies: the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) which operates domestically, and the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), which operates abroad. Since their establishment in the 1950s, the two agencies have been tasked with gathering intelligence for purely defensive/protective reasons. Both operate under stringent oversight by committees in the Bundestag—Germany’s lower house of parliament.
The proposed reforms will permit the agencies to neutralize “threats to Germany and its allies […] using kinetic means if necessary”. This means that special agents will be allowed to employ firearms and other weapons in the course of operations—though only in self-defense. They will also be permitted to engage in sabotage and other offensive information operations, and carry out offensive cyber espionage and cyber sabotage.
The government is largely justifying the as a response to what it describes as “state terrorism” in reference to Russian hybrid warfare—a phenomenon that Western European intelligence agencies consistently claim is growing in both scope and intensity. On the same day the German Federal Cabinet approved the proposed intelligence reforms, the Bloomberg news agency //reported// that the United States Central Intelligence Agency had reported its European counterparts that Moscow was preparing to intensify its campaign of “sabotage against infrastructure facilities and ‘false-flag’ operations” on European soil.
The proposed reforms will not become law until they are formally approved by the Bundestag in September. However, this is expected to occur with a high degree of certainty, given that the majority of seats is held by the governing coalition. The latter includes the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the center-right Christian Social Union (CSU) and Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 13 August 2026 | Permalink
A HIGHLY ANTICIPATED REVIEW of the European Union’s intelligence readiness to face conventional and hybrid threats has called for the establishment of a dedicated Europe-wide intelligence agency. Such an agency must rely on EU member states “trust[ing] each other” in order to confront increasingly aggressive espionage, sabotage, and other types of threats by outside actors like Russia, the report said.
ON GOOD FRIDAY, MARCH 29, Egisto Ott, a former member of Austria’s now-dissolved domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT), was arrested in his house in Carinthia, Austria’s southernmost state. Ott had frequently been at the center of media attention in the past year, in connection with the network surrounding the fugitive 
These included contacts in friendly foreign police services, whom Ott knew from his time as a liaison officer in Italy and Turkey. According to Gridling, these contacts were unaware that Ott had been removed from the BVT under suspicion of being unreliable and potentially even working for Russia. They therefore continued to help him when asked. Ott allegedly deceived his contacts by claiming that he needed information on cases relating to different kinds of extremism. As it turned out, according to the leaked arrest warrant, several of the individuals referred to by Ott as “suspects” in terrorism investigations were in fact Russian dissidents or intelligence defectors who were living as protected persons in Austria and elsewhere outside Russia.
AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SIGNALED on Thursday the beginning of a major overhaul of the country’s intelligence community, in response to this week’s terrorist attack in Vienna, which killed four people. Another 20 people were wounded by a lone gunman, who used an automatic weapon to spread panic in the Austrian capital before he was shot dead by Austrian police.
The former president of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, has been indicted as part of a widening investigation into a domestic spying program, which allegedly targeted opposition politicians, journalists and other public figures. The alleged espionage took place between 2015 and 2019, when Macri occupied the country’s highest office.
The Saudi royal who is suspected by the international community of having ordered the state-sponsored murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is now leading a committee to reform the Kingdom’s spy services. Khashoggi, 59, was a Saudi government adviser who became critical of the Kingdom’s style of governance. He moved to the United States and began to criticize Saudi Arabia from the pages of The Washington Post. He was 
The new president of South Korea has officially banned the country’s spy agency from engaging in domestic intelligence gathering, in a move that some say signals an era of sweeping security reforms in the country. South Korea’s intelligence agency, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) fell into disrepute in recent years, after many of its officers were found to have secretly sided with conservative political candidates for public office. In 2015, the NIS’ former director, Won Sei-hoon, was 
Last week, following the results of Russia’s parliamentary election, Russian media run a story suggesting that the Kremlin is planning to implement far-reaching changes to the country’s intelligence apparatus. 
A major parliamentary inquiry into the operations of Germany’s main intelligence agency has concluded that it spied on nearly 3,500 foreign targets in recent years, most of which belonged to allied countries. The inquiry was initiated by the German government in response to a number of recent public controversies involving the Bundesnachrichtendienst, Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, known as BND.
The senior executive body of the German government has approved draft legislation that reforms the country’s intelligence services, following revelations that Germany helped the United States spy on European states. The legislation is seen as a response by the German government to a number of recent public controversies involving the Bundesnachrichtendienst, Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, known as BND.
A former deputy prime minister of New Zealand, who is heading a major review of intelligence practices in the country, has said in an interview that spy agencies hurt their mission by practicing excessive secrecy. Sir Michael Cullen served as finance minister, education minister and attorney-General before serving as deputy prime minister of New Zealand, from 2002 to 2008. He was recently appointed by the government to co-chair a broad review of state intelligence agencies, with particular focus on updating the applicable legislative framework and evaluating the oversight exercised by lawmakers and the executive. The review is expected to affect the work of New Zealand’s two most visible intelligence agencies, the Security Intelligence Service and the Government Communications and Security Bureau.
By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Japan officials discuss strengthening counterespionage, establishing CIA-like agency
October 9, 2026 by intelNews 3 Comments
The closed-door session took place in late September. It was joined by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who led a 17-member panel of officials. The session reportedly focused on strengthening Japan’s intelligence capabilities and planned the drafting of a formal medium and long-term national intelligence-strategy document.
The panel reviewed counter-espionage legalization through establishing a new foreign interference prevention law, among other legal innovations. Japan has lacked a comprehensive anti-espionage law since Allied occupation authorities dismantled most of its intelligence-gathering apparatus following World War II. The lack of an anti-espionage law has limited the nation’s ability to prosecute spies and negotiate exchanges for Japanese nationals detained abroad.
The panel also discussed the creation of an external intelligence agency, comparable to the United States Central Intelligence Agency. Such a body was affirmed as a priority in the October 2025 coalition agreement between Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party, with the new agency reportedly set to be established by early 2028. If realized, such a move would represent a significant shift in Japan’s intelligence infrastructure.
Following the meeting, Prime Minister Takaichi held a press conference in which she expressed her concerns over what she referred to as the increasing threats to Japan’s advanced technology, cyberattacks targeting both public and private sectors, and the challenge of foreign disinformation campaigns. She highlighted the need to expand Japan’s foreign intelligence capabilities to prevent “undue interference from abroad”, referring to increased cooperation between China, North Korea and Russia, and the threats it presents.
Since taking office in October 2025, Takaichi has made intelligence and security reform a top policy priority of her government. She has repeatedly stated her intention to increase Japan’s intelligence and counterespionage capabilities, with the aim of addressing growing security threats. TextIn March 2026, Takaichi’s administration adopted a bill to establish the Japanese equivalent of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), aimed at tightening scrutiny of foreign investment in sensitive sectors. In July 2026, the Japanese government launched the National Intelligence Council—chaired by Takaichi herself—and the National Intelligence Bureau, both of which are tasked with collecting intelligence related to national security and public safety.
► Author: Molly Jones | Date: 9 October 2026 | Permalink
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