Those restraints have had the side effect of making Germany particularly dependent on the U.S. for intelligence gathering. In view of the growing threat from Russia, leading politicians now argue that it is time for Germany’s spies to be given the ability to hit back harder. On Wednesday, he said results of an investigation into the drone incident were still pending. Germany’s intelligence reform would allow authorities to actively respond to hybrid threats such as the Leipzig drone incident. “We are expanding the technical capabilities of the intelligence services and granting them active, operational powers,” Dobrindt said.