ROME — Germany’s plan to give its domestic intelligence service more operational cyber powers is the latest sign of a broader European shift: cyber is no longer treated as a niche technical domain but as a core pillar of national security.
Why it matters: Germany is moving toward a more operational intelligence posture in cyberspace.
- Italy, meanwhile, is reorganizing its military cyber and intelligence architecture rather than expanding intelligence agencies’ offensive powers.
- At the same time, Italy’s National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) is steadily acquiring broader supervisory and regulatory responsibilities over digital resilience and AI governance.
Zoom in: Germany’s new approach. Minister Alexander Dobrindt’s proposal would transform Germany’s domestic intelligence services from traditional information-gathering bodies into organizations with broader operational capabilities.
- The reform is presented as a response to hybrid threats, sabotage, espionage and cyberattacks increasingly attributed to hostile state actors.
- Among the measures reported are expanded digital investigative powers, including the use of government malware to access suspects’ devices, broader authority to analyze large datasets using artificial intelligence and, in cyber incidents, the possibility for intelligence services to conduct countermeasures against those responsible.
- If approved, the package would also rename Germany’s intelligence offices as “secret services,” reflecting what the minister describes as a more active operational role.
Between the lines: Italy is moving in a different direction. Italy is pursuing a similar reshape, but different institutional model.
- A defense reform approved by the government would formally define a “cyberspace of national interest” for defense, designate the Chief of the Defense Staff as the Defense Ministry’s cyber authority, and reorganize the military intelligence branch into a Joint Cyber Intel Command.
- The reform does not create a new intelligence service. Instead, it explicitly integrates cyber intelligence into the identity of the existing military intelligence structure while pairing it with a broader focus on hybrid threats.
- The ACN factor; Another piece of Italy’s evolving cyber architecture sits outside the intelligence community. Recent measures show the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) taking on increasingly significant oversight functions across the country’s digital ecosystem.
- Following the implementation of the NIS2 framework, ACN has clarified and strengthened its activities in monitoring, inspections, enforcement and sanctions for covered entities.
- Separately, under Italy’s implementation of the AI Act, ACN becomes the national market surveillance authority and the country’s single point of contact within the European AI governance framework, with responsibilities including technical inspections and intervention on non-compliant AI systems.
The big picture: Germany and Italy are not converging on the same institutional model. Berlin is expanding the operational toolbox available to its domestic intelligence services.
- Rome is instead distributing responsibilities across different pillars: strengthening cyber intelligence within the military while simultaneously reinforcing ACN as the country’s civilian cyber regulator and supervisory authority.
The common trend is less about institutional design than strategic direction.
The bottom line: Across Europe, cyber capabilities are increasingly being integrated into the core architecture of national security, linking intelligence, defense, digital resilience and technology governance more closely than before.
