While claiming to defend the “basic values of democratic society”, German political leaders and national security officials are engaged in a number of legislative projects that, in fact, trample on these values. Take the reform of the “freedom of information”, which would force persons or institutions posing a query on a matter classified as “sensitive” by the government to disclose their motive in doing so.

A change in the money laundering law also went into effect in February 2026, which requires banks, brokers, accountants, etc. to report “suspicious” financial transactions involving “politically exposed persons” in government, civil service, Parliament and parties to a specially created investigation office, which gathers and analyses the data, and then decides whether investigative or criminal proceedings will be opened against which of these persons.

Then there’s the draft Intelligence Agency Act on domestic security that would allow the foreign intelligence agency BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst) to provide required evidence to the domestic intelligence agency BfV (Bundesverfassungsschutz) in order to build a case before a court of law against a suspicious person, and other such steps. In at least five of the 16 German states, the Police receive “assistance” from the infamous Palantir system of Peter Thiel that would also milk data on persons and institutions of interest to intelligence circles of the US.

Senior German blogger Norbert Haering reviewed the draft intelligence law in a July 14, 2026 column on his blog, characterising it as a profound change that aims to transform the domestic and foreign intelligence agencies from intelligence gathering bodies into intervention agencies, which contradicts the intent of the Constitution.

“With his draft bill on intelligence service reform – tossed into the summer lull – Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt is laying the groundwork for using intelligence agency resources to investigate and combat political parties and journalists who challenge the narratives of the government, the EU or NATO,” charged Haering. Thus, a journalist who publishes information about NATO might be charged and persecuted, including the seizure of his bank account, as a spy working for Russia without actually being one just because the information he published might be of interest to the Russians.

NATO, itself, determines when its security is threatened. And since it is engaged in a propaganda war with Russia, it does not take much for that claim to be made, noted Haering. “It takes very little, then, for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) not only to be allowed to investigate a critical journalist, but also to mislead and discredit him by feeding him false information. The same applies to members of political parties that are critical of the EU or NATO and, as is currently the case with the (political opposition parties) AfD and BSW, are portrayed in a campaign-style manner as Moscow’s fifth column,” stressed the minister.

Furthermore, the censorship measures have recently been taken on the level of the EU and Germany is clearly moving toward the infamous Ministry of Truth of George Orwell’s novel 1984.

This article was first published in Executive Intelligence Review (EIR) Strategic Alert weekly newsletter (Volume 40, No. 30) on July 23, 2026.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das