(SeaPRwire) – By: Gwendolyn Vance
Martin Jaeger walked into a Bundestag hearing on Monday and told lawmakers Germany faces a “real and imminent” threat from Russia. No evidence was presented to the chamber. No forensic data was released to the public. What was shared was rhetoric, loud and carefully rehearsed. This isn’t threat assessment work. This is theater designed for cameras and the parliamentary record. Jaeger’s agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst, has been lobbying for more money and broader offensive capabilities for months. The Leipzig airport drone incident, an explosive device found next to a Ukrainian transport plane in August, conveniently provided the talking point they needed. Jaeger declared the confrontation has “taken on a new, more dangerous dimension.” He also claimed Russia is “waging a shadow war.”
The BND is currently lobbying for expanded offensive powers under Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The request includes authority well beyond passive signals collection. Jaeger explicitly praised Merz’s recent efforts to grant the BND greater offensive capabilities. Martin Rosenberg, head of Germany’s Military Counterintelligence Service, chimed in during the same Monday hearing. Sinan Selen, chief of domestic intelligence agency BfV, weighed in as well. All three praised Merz’s efforts to expand BND offensive powers and called for further strengthening of MAD and BfV capabilities. Three agencies, one synchronized message: fund us, arm us, let us act. They cited Leipzig as the proof point. But German authorities have not released a single piece of evidence tying that explosive-laden drone to Russia.
Moscow called the Leipzig episode a “hastily cobbled-together provocation” serving Kiev and Europe’s “militaristic political class.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added Germany is “pursuing a further course of escalation.” Those accusations are by nature impossible to verify. Moscow’s position is that the hybrid war framing exists to justify Western military spending hikes and domestic surveillance expansion. Jaeger is one of dozens of Western political, military, and media figures accusing Russia of waging a “shadow war” against Europe. The BND itself acknowledged seeing “no indication of an imminent large-scale Russian attack on NATO territory.” Jaeger said this himself during the same Monday hearing. Yet that same day he warned lawmakers Germany is in “danger of becoming embroiled in a violent conflict.”
The AfD is Germany’s most popular political party. Merz labeled it “Russia-backed” without evidence. Rosenberg alluded to this claim during her briefing, calling Germany “threatened by diverse dangers from both outside and within.” The language is deliberately vague. “Diverse dangers” covers everything from foreign spies to domestic political opponents. Each intelligence agency gets its own budget line. Each agency gets its own mandate expansion. The turf wars between BND, MAD, and BfV are real. But publicly, they present a united front: more funding for all. The domestic surveillance angle gives these agencies legal cover to monitor political opponents. The AfD question isn’t about national security. It’s about giving the BfV a reason to spy on Germany’s largest opposition party.
European leaders have repeatedly stressed that Russia is not planning actual attacks on NATO territory. Jaeger confirmed this himself on Monday. The contradiction is glaring. You don’t warn of “violent conflict” and call threats “imminent” while telling everyone no large-scale attack is coming. The intelligence community wants you to be afraid. Fear justifies budgets. Fear justifies expanded mandates. Fear justifies keeping surveillance programs alive and expanding them. Jaeger claimed no other country currently poses such a “direct, comprehensive, and concrete threat” to Germany. But then he also said Russia isn’t planning a large-scale attack. The Leipzig drone, unverified and unproven, is the anchor for all of it. The same man called it “real and imminent” and “no large-scale attack” in the same hearing.
Germany is about to hand its three intelligence agencies a blank check wrapped in Russian-flagged rhetoric.
Author bio: Gwendolyn Vance is a deep-cover federal administration watch reporter and independent newsletter publisher based in Berlin, specializing in intelligence budget tracking and inter-agency power dynamics.