Authoritarian or totalitarian states see a danger to their own order in functional democracies. In order to weaken them, they are bombarded with misinformation. If democratic countries retaliate, or if open societies begin to close in the face of danger, the damage has already been done.
How can we protect democracy? That question bothers many people around the world, where the pressure on free societies is increasing, writes Deutsche Welle (D.W.)
One indication of how much that is pressure the number of public appearances of the president of the secret services could also be strong in Germany: Thomas Haldenwang leads the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitutional Order (BfV) and since taking office in 2018, he noticeably often participates in press conferences or round tables.
Two years after the start of Russia's war against Ukraine, Haldenwang is among those who are most vocal in warning against disinformation, fake news and espionage. Speaking at a conference of the German Liberals (FDP) in the German parliament, the Bundestag, he emphasized that he believes that the dangers in 2024 are particularly great, writes DW.
"Super Election Year" 2024.
Haldenwang pointed to the upcoming elections for the European Parliament, the presidential elections in the USA and three regional elections in Germany. It is undeniable that this is a "super election year" and that is why we must prepare even more for disinformation. They are purposefully spread "in order to discredit political opponents and confuse voters, as well as to undermine democracy and its institutions," said the president of the BfW.
The fact that Germany is among the favorite targets of Russian propaganda and espionage was demonstrated through the so-called "Taurus-leaks" - digital conversations of high-ranking German army officers were hacked. It is an incident that particularly worried the FDP's security expert Konstantin Kule. As a member of the Parliamentary Control Committee (PKGr) for German intelligence services, he is one of those who knows very well how dangerous such hybrid threats are.
How much secrecy can an open society take?
What Kule learns from Haldenwang behind closed doors remains between them, "so that the enemies of democracy do not find out what the German security services know about them." However, such a form of secrecy can be problematic for an open, free society, especially since the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitutional Order occasionally uses controversial methods, writes DW.
At the conference in the Bundestag, Kule also referred to the dispute between the need to keep some things secret and the desired transparency, and advocated trust in the work of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution: "There is a fine line between defending freedom of expression on the one hand and defense against disinformation on the other hand," said the FDP politician, adding that "this is something our services face every day."
Read the entire text at Deutsche says
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