Germany to expand security vetting of critical infrastructure staff to curb sabotage risk

Germany’s cabinet has approved plans to extend security vetting of staff at critical infrastructure sites in a bid to reduce the risk of sabotage from the inside. Additional screening would be required for operators at sites such as water works, rail services, grids and power stations for signs of extremism or vulnerability to blackmail, with a focus on countering sabotage by extremists or on behalf of foreign intelligence services, the interior ministry said.

Protecting critical infrastructure has moved up the political agenda since the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in September 2022. Later attacks on power stations and transformers, including the January 2026 power grid sabotage in Berlin that left about 45,000 households without power for days, led to calls for better protection as well as for a national crisis reserve of mobile generators and heating systems to be dispatched in an emergency. 

The interior ministry said the new rules are needed because of the growing threat of hybrid attacks, meaning actions below the threshold of war such as sabotage and espionage, ARD reported. The regulation sets new criteria for deciding which authorities and parts of companies are security sensitive. Critical infrastructure refers to facilities and services whose failure could cause supply shortages or endanger public safety.

Among the newly covered areas are operators of facilities capable of restarting the electricity grid after a total blackout, operators of large digital energy systems, control centres for major reservoirs, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals connected to the gas grid. 

German police recorded hundreds of sabotage acts against critical infrastructure, including energy facilities, in 2025.