During a visit to the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) delivered a stark assessment of the current security landscape, describing it as the most serious in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Addressing a handover ceremony for the new BND Director, Martin Jäger, Merz stated that Germany is now daily facing hybrid attacks against its infrastructure, encompassing sabotage, espionage and disinformation campaigns.
The Chancellor emphasized that Germany has once again encountered “system rivals and adversaries” who are increasingly assertive. He identified the creation of new foundations for a secure and sovereign Germany as the Federal Government’s most crucial task. This transformation necessitates a foreign and security policy paradigm shift, including the establishment of a National Security Council and an exception to the debt brake for defense and security-related spending.
Merz affirmed that these funds would be allocated to better equip the intelligence services and create improved legal frameworks, specifically by advancing the long-overdue reform of intelligence service laws. He believes these measures will allow for a more targeted exploitation of the BND’s potential in the coming years.
Acknowledging the prevailing atmosphere of uncertainty, Merz underscored the importance of intelligence gathering, stating that a well-structured foreign intelligence service-civilian, military and technical-is essential to provide reliable insights. The goal, he said, is for the BND to operate at the absolute highest level of intelligence capability.
The speech coincided with a change in leadership at the German foreign intelligence agency. Bruno Kahl, who served as President of the BND since 2016, will become Germany’s ambassador to the Vatican. His successor, Martin Jäger, brings extensive experience dealing with crises, having most recently served as ambassador to Kyiv and previously in Afghanistan and Iraq.