This analysis provides an overview of the recent reforms of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND), ranging from the legislative changes in 2016 to the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court in 2020 and the resulting legal and institutional changes. The main reason for comprehensive reforms of BND's activities was the so-called wiretapping scandal provoked by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). It prompted political decision makers in Berlin to undertake deeper structural reforms of intelligence. A ruling of the German Constitutional Court of 19 May 2020 was a key event in the reform process. The Court found the BND Act incompatible with the constitutionally established rights to secrecy of telecommunications and freedom of the press.
Piotr Gorszewski
KBN Analysis No. 16 (111) / 2022
17 October 2022
This analysis provides an overview of the recent reforms of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND), ranging from the legislative changes in 2016 to the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court in 2020 and the resulting legal and institutional changes. The main reason for comprehensive reforms of BND's activities was the so-called wiretapping scandal provoked by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). It prompted political decision makers in Berlin to undertake deeper structural reforms of intelligence. A ruling of the German Constitutional Court of 19 May 2020 was a key event in the reform process. The Court found the BND Act incompatible with the constitutionally established rights to secrecy of telecommunications and freedom of the press.
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