Amid Growing Hybrid Threats, Merz Calls for Intelligence Agency to Match Germany’s Economic Power

Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated on Thursday that Germany must operate its foreign intelligence service, the BND, at a level befitting the country’s size and economic strength in order to effectively respond to increasingly aggressive hybrid attacks from adversaries.

Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of Martin Jaeger as head of the BND, Merz noted that the security architecture in Europe—which has ensured peace, freedom, and prosperity for decades—has now been weakened.

Jaeger, 61, has served as Germany’s ambassador to Ukraine since 2023, as the country became the second-largest arms supplier to Kyiv in its fight against Russia’s invasion. He will succeed longtime chief Bruno Kahl.

European security officials, including those from Germany, have warned of rising hybrid threats from Russia since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in February 2022. These attacks include espionage and sabotage targeting critical infrastructure, though Russia has typically denied such claims.

“The security situation in Germany has rarely been this severe since World War II,” Merz said.

“We are facing hybrid attacks on our infrastructure every day—sabotage, espionage, disinformation campaigns. Once again, we are confronted with a systematic adversary and opponent, and they are becoming increasingly aggressive,” he added, without naming any specific country or organization.

Merz emphasized that in order to counter these threats, Germany must take a more proactive approach and leverage intelligence provided by a robust civilian, military, and technical foreign intelligence apparatus.

“Given our size and economic power, and in light of our responsibilities in Europe, our goal must be to ensure that the BND operates at the highest level in terms of intelligence capability,” he said.