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Supervision and oversight

The photo taken on October 29, 2019, shows the three presidents of the federal security agencies BMAD, BfV and BND at the beginning of the annual public hearing before the Parliamentary Control Committee in the German Bundestag.

The domestic intelligence services at federal and federal state level are subject to oversight through various mechanisms and institutions at several levels. There is not only administrative oversight, but also parliamentary, judicial and public oversight.

At federal level, i.e. for the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), the following oversight bodies exist:

The photograph shows the visitor entrance to the Berlin property of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, for Building and Home Affairs not far from Berlin's main train station.
Wolfgang Minich/picture alliance

Administrative oversight

Administrative and expert supervision of BfV is exercised by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI). The Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI) ensures the implementation of data protection regulations and also has the right to inspect BfV’s files.

The Bundesrechnungshof (BRH; German Supreme Audit Institution) exercises financial control of the German intelligence services at federal level and shares the results of its audits with the Parliamentary Oversight Panel, the Confidential Committee and the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community, among others.

Parliamentary oversight

General parliamentary oversight of BfV is carried out, for example, through debates or through interpellations, i.e. questions put to the Federal Government by members of the German Bundestag. Parliamentary oversight also includes delivering reports to the Bundestag Committee on Internal Affairs and Community in charge of BfV, to the Budget Committee and, if applicable, to committees of inquiry.

Furthermore, citizens may submit petitions, which are then examined by the Petitions Committee of the German Bundestag.

Specific parliamentary oversight measures are taken by the Parliamentary Oversight Panel, by the Confidential Committee of the Budget Committee and by the G 10 Commission.

Parliamentary Oversight Panel

The task of the Parliamentary Oversight Panel (PKGr) is to oversee BfV and the Federation’s two other intelligence services, BND and BAMAD.
PKGr has extensive powers:

  • the right to inspect the intelligence services’ files,
  • the right to enter any of the intelligence services’ offices and
  • the right to interview the intelligence services’ staff.
The photograph taken on July 25, 2013 shows two men in the shadows in the hallway outside the tap-proof meeting room in the basement of the Bundestag's Jakob Kaiser House during a special session of the Parliamentary Control Committee (PKGr).
Michael Kappeler/dpa/picture alliance

Moreover, the 2016 amendment to the Act governing the Parliamentary Oversight of Intelligence Activities by the German Federation established annual public hearings of the heads of the Federation’s intelligence services and introduced the office of a Permanent Representative of the Parliamentary Oversight Panel, who is tasked with assisting PKGr through regular examinations and examinations of individual cases.

Moreover, the 2016 amendment to the Act governing the Parliamentary Oversight of Intelligence Activities by the German Federation established annual public hearings of the presidents of the Federation’s intelligence services and introduced the office of a Permanent Representative of the Parliamentary Oversight Panel, who is tasked with assisting PKGr through regular examinations and examinations of individual cases.

Members of the intelligence services who wish to discuss official matters can also approach PKGr directly without going through the official channels.

The Parliamentary Oversight Panel presents a report on its oversight activities to the German Bundestag at least halfway through the parliamentary term and at the end of that term.

Confidential Committee of the Budget Committee

The Confidential Committee is elected by the German Bundestag from among the members of the Budget Committee.

The Confidential Committee’s main task is to decide on the budgets of the Federation’s three intelligence services and to oversee the use of the funding provided during the financial year. In this context, the Confidential Committee has the same rights as PKGr.

To avoid any oversight gaps while PKGr and the Confidential Committee perform their respective tasks, the two bodies retain mutual advisory rights: the chairpersons of each committee, their deputies and another assigned member may attend the other committee’s sessions in an advisory capacity.

The Confidential Committee of the Budget Committee presents a report on its oversight activities to the German Bundestag at least halfway through the legislative term and at the end of that term.

G 10 Commission

PKGr appoints the G 10 Commission, after consulting the Federal Government, for the duration of one parliamentary term of the German Bundestag. The G 10 Commission is composed of the chairperson, who must be qualified to hold judicial office, and of three other members. There are also four substitute members. None of them necessarily have to be members of the German Bundestag. In the performance of their duties, they are independent and not subject to any instructions. The commission convenes at least once a month; its deliberations are kept secret.

Article 10 of the Basic Law is embossed on a glass panel in the government quarter in Berlin, taken on August 5, 2013.
Wolfram Steinberg/dpa/picture alliance

The G 10 Commission’s main task is to decide on the necessity and admissibility of measures to restrict the privacy of correspondence, posts and telecommunications.

The commission’s supervisory powers also extend to the entire procedure of gathering, processing and using the personal data obtained through restrictive measures, which includes the decision about whether to inform the individuals concerned. In that context, the commission has extensive rights to demand information, to inspect files and to access all offices. Furthermore, the G 10 Commission’s supervisory authority includes oversight of specific powers that the intelligence services were granted after the 9/11 attacks, first for a limited period through various amendments to laws and later indefinitely through the Act Removing Time Limits for the Provisions on Counter-Terrorism of 3 December 2020.

For BfV, the Federal Minister of the Interior and community informs the G 10 Commission once a month about the restrictive measures he has ordered before they are carried out.

Judicial oversight

Like any other agency in the Federal Republic of Germany, BfV is bound by the law. Any exercise of state authority may become subject to judicial review.

Public oversight

Another important element of oversight is scrutiny by the public. Citizens are entitled to submit requests regarding specific topics and to file applications to receive information on the data stored about them. Additionally, oversight of the work carried out by BfV is also exercised by the media.