At a press conference held today, July 28, 2016 in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a 9-point strong plan to make Germany safer. The new plan comes as a reaction to the recent series of attacks in Munich, Wurzburg and Ansbach (all in Bavaria).

The plan includes the following measures:

-          Early Warning System: the early warning system will be improved to make it easier for authorities to react as soon as there is suspicion of radicalisation in on-going asylum and integration processes.

-          Personnel: the government is going to increase staff and invest in technical equipment “wherever needed”.

-          Intelligence (Information): the already decided upon Centre for Information Technology in the Security Field to Decrypt the Internet Communication(Zentrale Stelle für Informationstechnik im Sicherheitsbereich zur Entschlüsselung der Internet-Kommunikation) shall be established as soon as possible.

-          Bundeswehr: “the time has come” for joint exercises of Police and Bundeswehr to be prepared for larger scale terrorist attacks.

-          Research/Prevention: all existing research projects on Islamist terrorism and radicalization of people have to be continued and possibly expanded.

-          Networks: at European level, all existing files should be linked as soon as possible.

-          Weapons Law: the new European Weapons Law must be adopted as soon as possible. At the national level, trade or purchase of weapons shall no longer be possible online.

-          Intelligence Services: the cooperation with friendly services is to be strengthened and the solving of cases accelerated.

-          Repatriation: efforts to repatriation of refugees to their home countries shall be strengthened.