Germany Consults European Partners on Major BND Reform to Authorize Offensive Cyber Operations

Germany is pursuing its most significant intelligence reform since the post-war era, consulting with French, British, Dutch, and Swedish counterparts on expanding BND authority to conduct offensive cyber operations, currently prohibited under existing law. Intelligence coordinator Philip Wolf, former BND chief, has met repeatedly with allied services. The reform would also create a National Security Council and modernize legal frameworks. BND chief Martin Yeager, a former Ukraine ambassador, leads an agency some argue has become overly focused on diplomatic collection at the expense of military intelligence.