Announcing the steps yesterday, federal interior minister Thomas de Maizière said the new unit – the Central Office for Information in Security Sphere – or ‘Zentrale Stelle für Informationstechnik im Sicherheitsbereich (ZITiS), will support security forces by developing “methods, products and strategies to fight criminality and terrorism on the internet”.
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“No one can guarantee absolute security, but we have to do all we can”, Mr de Maiziere said, announcing the new package of measures, which has been prompted by two terror attacks in Germany last month, claimed by Isil.
He said it’s already possible to strip German citizenship from dual nationals who fight for foreign armies, so it’s reasonable to apply the same rule to those who fight for a “terror militia” overseas.
Germany is toughening up security laws, in a broader effort to crack down on terrorism, following a recent spate of deadly attacks. Islamic State claimed responsibility for both attacks.
De Maiziere is proposing stripping dual nationals who fight for extremist groups overseas of their German citizenship, and wants to make it easier to deport foreigners deemed to be unsafe.
“A lot of people. are anxious about further attacks. That is understandable”, Mr de Maiziere told reporters.
The proposals call for hiring more federal police officers; making it a crime to express sympathy for terrorism; greater sharing of intelligence data across Europe; a closer watch on the web; and making it easier to deport foreigners deemed to be risky.
In a phone interview, Stegner said his party supported hiring additional police, upgrading technology, investigating the dark web and improving cooperation with other European countries, but was more skeptical of a proposal by de Maizière to restrict certain rights of migrants whose asylum applications have been denied but who can not easily be deported.
The attackers in Ansbach and Munich attacks had received psychiatric treatment in the past.
He said he wanted to install sophisticated video equipment in about 20 significant railroad stations, and to improve the sharing of surveillance footage among law-enforcement agencies, adding that the shooting rampage in Munich, which killed nine people at a shopping mall, showed that public spaces were potential “soft targets” for terrorists.
In Germany, doctors can face a fine or up to a year in prison for breaching patient confidentiality, though existing rules already allow them to do so “in order to safeguard a higher-ranking legally protected interest”.
German authorities said they found a hand-painted Isis flag among the belongings of the man, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan, who was shot dead by police after he seriously injured four members of a family of tourists from Hong Kong.
He said he hopes that numerous measures can be introduced before a national election expected in September next year.
German media report that the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) – the CDU’s coalition partners – strongly oppose any general ban on dual citizenship.
But de Maizière warned his state colleagues not to fight battles they will only lose – banning veils is likely to fall foul of the constitutional court – in a bid to win back voters defecting to the populist fringes.
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“You can not forbid everything you reject”.
