this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2023
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BfV is the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, a domestic intelligence agency, so somewhat comparable to the FBI in the USA.
They're also famous for very much being “blind on the right eye”. They didn't ban the neonazi party “NPD” (for reference: the original Nazi party was the NSDAP) and their last ex boss (Hans-Georg Maaßen) is a far right conspiracy nut.
They've partially come around apparently as they're now watching the AfD (which is far stronger than the NPD ever was) as well as Maaßen.
BfV cannot ban parties. Only the highest court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) can. The only reason they did not do it was because the NPD has too little meaning to be a thread to the German constitution.
I don't think that comparison is very fitting. The FBI is equivalant to the German Bundespolizei (Federal Police).
The BfV is more like the NSA or the Dept. of homeland security. It's an domestic intelligence agency.