‚Zeitenwende‘ for the Principle of Separation! From Information Exchange to Joint Risk Assessment

This article examines whether the principle of separation between the police and intelligence services still meets the demands of modern hybrid threat scenarios. Germany’s security situation is increasingly shaped by phenomena that transcend traditional jurisdictional boundaries. Espionage, sabotage, cyberattacks, foreign influence, disinformation campaigns, and the use of criminal or terrorist networks often cannot be attributed exclusively to either internal or external security. As a result, the existing organizational and information structures of Germany’s security architecture are increasingly reaching their limits.

The starting point for this analysis is the current debate on the reform of intelligence service law, which would represent the most comprehensive modernization of Germany’s intelligence service laws since the founding of the Federal Republic. This article highlights the expanded options for data sharing among security agencies, the intensification of cooperation within the Constitutional Protection Network, and the establishment, for the first time, of a legal basis for joint automated analyses. At the same time, it demonstrates that while the reform primarily strengthens existing cooperation structures, it leaves the organizational fragmentation of the security architecture largely untouched.

Using a hypothetical case study, this article illustrates the practical implications of the principle of informational separation. Although the police and intelligence agencies each possess relevant individual pieces of information, there are no institutionalized procedures in place to consolidate these into a shared risk assessment at an early stage. The real shortcoming, therefore, lies less in a lack of information than in the failure to consolidate and evaluate it across agencies.

Against this backdrop, this paper develops concrete reform proposals for a modern security architecture. These include standardized procedures for the early detection of intelligence-relevant issues, more practical reporting thresholds for hybrid threats, and the introduction of uniform recording and verification criteria within police information systems. Furthermore, the paper proposes the establishment of an independent, interagency analysis and situational awareness centre that systematically evaluates information lawfully collected by various security agencies and synthesizes it into joint risk assessments, without itself exercising intelligence or police powers.

The article concludes that further developing the principle of informational separation does not mean abandoning the requirement for separation but rather adapting it to changing threat scenarios. A modern security architecture should focus less on expanding the powers of government agencies and more on a faster, legally sound, and institutionalized consolidation of existing intelligence. Only through a combination of improved information sharing, joint analysis, and interagency risk assessment can hybrid threats be effectively identified and the capacity of security agencies to act be strengthened in the long term.

Read the entire analysis: ‘Zeitenwende für das Trennungsgebot! Ansätze, um Polizei und Nachrichtendienste vor die Lage zu bringen’ here. Please note, to date this paper is only available in German.