For decades, European intelligence agencies were defined more by what they could not do than by what they could; in Germany, the Nordic countries, and much of Eastern Europe, post-war trauma, the legacy of authoritarian regimes, and a growing commitment to safeguarding civil liberties constrained the operations of spy agencies, reports Politico.
Now, as Russia expands its campaigns of hybrid attacks against critical infrastructure and Chinese espionage intensifies, Europe’s largely dormant intelligence organizations have been granted new powers to protect their interests. Over the past 18 months, the need for change has become more pressing amid growing concerns regarding the reliability of the United States under the Donald Trump administration.
While each country must address the specific combination of its own intelligence services, history, and geographical situation, a shared trend toward granting broader powers is evident. Sometimes this comes at the expense of privacy, but governments are assuming a greater role in safeguarding their security. In recent weeks, the governments of several European countries have granted their intelligence agencies broader powers to disrupt hostile operations and launch defensive cyberattacks, while also authorizing the exchange of intelligence with private companies.
David Omand, former head of the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), stated that intelligence communities must be able to provide governments with an understanding of what is actually happening and seek to explain it. They need to determine whether Russian-backed criminal activities are underway or if the situation is something entirely different. Omand noted that this requires intelligence communities to truly function as a unified whole, integrating technical, digital, and human intelligence.
In Sweden, the government is preparing staff for the new Foreign Intelligence Service,
which is set to launch in January. In August, Stockholm announced the appointment of two senior officials to the service: Andreas von Beckerath will serve as the agency’s Director General, while Annika Brändström will be his deputy. Both will assume their new roles as soon as the service becomes operational. Von Beckerath currently serves as the European Union Ambassador to Serbia, whereas Brändström has a long career in government, including experience as a security advisor.
The Swedish government has indicated that separating civilian foreign intelligence from military intelligence will allow for a clearer distinction of responsibilities and improve the country’s ability to assess a wide range of security risks. This restructuring is taking place as Sweden continues to reshape its security architecture following its accession to NATO. This process has been largely driven by threats posed by Russia, which escalated sharply after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
On August 28, the Dutch government launched consultations on a proposal to grant its intelligence agencies broader powers under national security law. This would allow them to disrupt the activities of Russian hackers, Chinese spies, and Iranian agents without prior authorization, and enable the sharing of more intelligence with security companies and the military.
Significant legislative changes are also planned in Austria,
a country that has acquired the status of a global hub for espionage. Current laws allow foreign agents to operate with impunity on Austrian soil, provided their spying is not directed against Austria itself. The government is now working to close this legal loophole, thereby complicating matters for the estimated 7,000 spies believed to be operating in Vienna.
The most drastic changes are taking place in Germany. The country has a troubled history with both Nazi-era agencies and, later, the East German secret police, and has been very cautious regarding the powers granted to its intelligence services. Now, Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government aims to give these services broader capabilities to counter threats from hostile states. Under the proposed reforms, set to take effect in January, the German foreign intelligence service (BND) will be authorized to conduct sabotage and offensive operations.
An EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity, remarked that this move was long overdue. Europeans had not anticipated that such threats would reach them, and this measure represents a response to the new threat landscape.
Until now, the BND’s activities were limited to intelligence gathering.
This reflected post-war restrictions deliberately put in place to prevent a recurrence of the abuses that occurred under Nazi rule. However, this also meant that Germany was largely ineffective in the digital realm, partly due to a lack of the necessary authority to access certain types of communications data.
In March, Germany’s data protection watchdog warned that it would be unable to adequately protect citizens from surveillance by intelligence agencies. Omend stated that Germany represents a classic case—it will need to rethink its traditional approach of balancing privacy concerns against national security interests.
The need for deeper intelligence cooperation among European nations became increasingly urgent after the Trump administration abruptly halted the sharing of military and combat-related intelligence with Kyiv in March 2025. The US President has also faced accusations of appointing loyalists with limited or no experience to lead these agencies. This has raised concerns among European officials that Washington might be unwilling to share intelligence that contradicts the administration’s political stance.
Ferdinand Gehringer, a senior hybrid threats analyst at FTI Consulting, said that these changes reflect both a growing awareness of threats to Europe and a shift in the methods used by Russian intelligence services, which are increasingly employing low-level agents to carry out acts of sabotage.
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