Episode

Germany Rewrites the Rules for its Spies | Florian Flade

Podcast: Secrets and Spies Podcast: Espionage | Global Issues | Current Affairs
Published: Jul 11, 2026
Duration seconds: 3432
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Summary

For most of its history, Germany's foreign intelligence service was built to watch, not to act — a constraint rooted in the country's experience of the Gestapo and the Stasi. A sweeping draft law would change that, letting the BND conduct sabotage, covert interference, and offensive cyber operations for the first time. Chris speaks with German investigative journalist Florian Flade, among the first to report on the draft, about what's driving the overhaul.