The Trump administration is reportedly considering targeted sanctions against senior officials of Germany’s domestic intelligence service, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV).
The possible sanctions would be in response to their role in monitoring and publicly classifying the opposition right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD) as extremist.
German weekly Der Spiegel published the revelations December 30, citing former US government officials familiar with internal discussions in Washington.
According to the report, anger within the US administration has built over recent months over the perceived use of intelligence powers against a democratically-supported opposition party. In this period, Washington has also intensified its political engagement with the AfD.
Measures under discussion reportedly include travel bans and financial sanctions aimed at individual German intelligence officials, rather than broader action against Germany as a state.
At the centre of the controversy is the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, one of Germany’s three principal intelligence agencies.
Unlike the other two agencies, the foreign intelligence service BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst) and military counter-intelligence service MAD (Militärischer Abschirmdienst), the BfV is responsible for domestic intelligence and internal security.
The agency was established in the post-war period with a mandate shaped by Germany’s historical experience.
Its task is to monitor — and, if necessary, support legal action against — parties, political movements, media outlets, publishing houses, associations and groups deemed hostile to the constitutional order of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Crucially, the BfV is authorised to deploy intelligence methods even in the absence of criminal offences, provided an entity is classified as dangerous on ideological or political grounds.
This exceptional authority reflects lessons drawn from the Weimar Republic, when the Nazi Party rose to power through democratic elections and then dismantled democracy.
Post-war Germany was explicitly designed to ensure such a scenario would never occur again, leading to the creation of a domestic intelligence agency tasked with monitoring even those who do not violate the law.
Critics argue, however, that the Verfassungsschutz is directly subordinated to the party-political sphere.
It operates under the authority of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, which sets its priorities and operational framework. This structural situation has become increasingly controversial.
In May 2025, the BfV formally classified the AfD as a “confirmed right-wing extremist endeavour”, dramatically expanding surveillance powers in a public assessment.
AfD leaders rejected the designation as “clearly politically motivated” and warned the agency was weaponising intelligence monitoring against a legitimate political party.
From the perspective of US officials, according to Der Spiegel, the issue goes beyond Germany’s historical sensitivities.
US officials argue that the Verfassungsschutz risks doing precisely what it was created to prevent, in undermining democratic competition while claiming to defend democracy.
By placing the country’s strongest opposition party under intelligence surveillance and publicly branding it extremist, the agency is accused of using the authority of the state to stigmatise and marginalise a mass political movement supported by millions of voters.
In Washington’s reading, this amounts to repressing the leading party in the polls while invoking the defence of democracy as a moral shield.
Former US officials quoted by Der Spiegel warn intelligence classifications issued under political oversight — and without judicial verdicts — risk shaping voter behaviour and narrowing political choice.
As one former American official put it privately, the danger is Germany may be “protecting democracy by suspending it.”
A US State Department spokesperson declined to comment on the report, stating that the department “does not discuss internal consultations”.
The dispute unfolds against a backdrop of dramatic shifts in German public opinion.
Recent national opinion polls place the AfD as Germany’s strongest party, ahead of both the CDU/CSU bloc and the SPD.
Together, the Union parties and SPD form the backbone of the current governing majority and exercise political oversight over the Interior Ministry — and, by extension, the Verfassungsschutz itself.
This convergence of intelligence activity, executive authority, and electoral competition lies at the heart of a debate that now reverberates far beyond Germany’s borders.
