Germany's Cabinet Approves Sweeping Spy Powers: Hack-Back, Weapons Sabotage

Germany's cabinet approved a 700-page draft law on August 12, 2026, granting its BND and BfV intelligence agencies offensive "hack-back" cyber capabilities and authority to sabotage weapons production. Interior minister Alexander Dobrindt called the reform a security "revolution." The bill must still pass parliament. It follows a deadly car ramming at Berlin's Pride parade and an explosives-laden drone found at Leipzig airport.