It’s about espionage and sabotage, extremism and infiltration: The Military Counterintelligence Service, or MAD for short, is designed to protect the Bundeswehr from enemies of the constitution in its own ranks and from infiltration from outside. In view of the increased importance of the troops, the Ministry of Defense wants to place the work of the intelligence service on a new legal basis. The MAD will be given additional powers, but will also be better controlled.
The draft bill for the law has been made available exclusively to WELT AM SONNTAG. During foreign missions, the MAD will – unlike before – also be allowed to use intelligence measures outside of Bundeswehr bases. In addition to its own soldiers, it will also be able to monitor foreigners, for example through observation, intercepting telecommunications or using informants.
The Ministry of Defense wants to strengthen the MAD for the “turning point” proclaimed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “The amendment grants the Military Counterintelligence Service the necessary powers to protect the Bundeswehr against espionage and sabotage by foreign powers, as well as against extremist attempts at infiltration from within its own ranks, even during foreign missions,” a ministry spokeswoman confirmed to this newspaper. “We are counting on the law being passed and coming into force this year.”
The reason for the rush: By the end of 2027, almost 5,000 soldiers are to be permanently stationed on NATO’s eastern flank, for the first time in the force’s history. The “war-ready brigade”, as Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) describes the requirements for the unit in Lithuania, will operate almost directly on the Russian border – within sight of a regime that has made espionage and sabotage a common tool of politics under the presidency of former KGB agent Vladimir Putin.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the current legal framework means that the MAD would not be adequately equipped to defend against Russian infiltration attempts. In fact, the secret service is currently only allowed to use its weapons within the Bundeswehr barracks and only against its own soldiers during foreign missions. However, the MAD is not normally allowed to target foreign instigators and spies, nor foreign saboteurs.
The new law is intended to change that – and to strengthen the service in a fundamental way. Compared to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), which is responsible for foreign intelligence, it has so far led a niche existence with its approximately 1,500 employees.
This was also evident in the MAD law. The set of laws, which was only passed in 1990, 34 years after the service was founded, regulates its powers primarily through references to the law on the protection of the constitution. Lawyers say that parts of the MAD law are “completely incomprehensible”.
The traffic light coalition also sees a need for reform in view of a series of mishaps in which the MAD hardly lived up to its role as an early warning system. For example, in the case of Carsten L.: The former head of the Bundeswehr’s technical intelligence department was arrested in December 2022 because he allegedly passed internal information on to the Russians. The Bundeswehr did not learn about this from the MAD – but from an intelligence service from abroad.
How vulnerable the troops are to extremist infiltration from within their own ranks was shown when the Reich Citizens around Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss were exposed: the group also included former and active soldiers. In February it was also revealed that the Russians were able to listen in on an online discussion about the Taurus cruise missile. Bundeswehr officers had used an unsecured line.
The coalition says that the draft for the new MAD law could be passed by the end of this year. The timetable seems ambitious, because the reform is not a stand-alone project.
The traffic light coalition also wants to adapt the laws for the BfV and the BND. The Constitutional Court has called for the reasons for the use of intelligence resources to be defined more precisely. At the initiative of the Greens, the “Independent Control Council”, which was initially established for the BND, is also to examine intelligence operations for the BfV and the MAD in advance to ensure they are legal. The laws for the three services must therefore be coordinated. This is a complex process, they say. In essence, however, the coalition partners are in agreement with the Chancellery, the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Defense.
The Green Party’s deputy parliamentary group leader Konstantin von Notz stressed that anyone who takes the “turning point” seriously must consider an “update” of the laws in view of the tense security situation. The Constitutional Court has set out guidelines. “For example, all intelligence resources must be sufficiently defined and clearly formulated and, depending on the depth and severity of the intervention, subject to independent prior control,” said von Notz.
The FDP’s defense spokesman, Alexander Müller, also called for clear regulations on powers. “We are proceeding from the principle that we need strong intelligence services that are subject to strong control,” said Müller.
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