Germany has ordered police to guard LNG terminals under construction and increased aerial supervision of its rail network as it prepares to enhance the protection of critical infrastructure.
As the German Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser told Reuters, it was not possible to comprehensively protect all of the more than 33,000 kilometres of railways and millions of kilometers of cables in Germany with just cameras or police officers.
For this reason, Germany created a special unit to coordinate protection of critical infrastructure after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. As part of intensified efforts on that front, police were guarding the LNG terminals built to help Germany replace pipeline deliveries of Russian gas and would also accompany the LNG shipments.
Police are also patrolling at sea with all their available forces and ships to protect maritime infrastructure.
In addition, the ministry is advising both public and private operators of critical infrastructure such as hospitals and telecommunication networks on how to better fend off attacks. This included the recommendation to have not just one, but potentially several, backup systems.
Now the ministry wants to make some requirements legally binding and will present key points for a new law this year, ahead of schedule.
