2023-07-23 10:51:13
The Chair of the Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, believes that the German intelligence services are no longer adequate in crisis situations.
“You obviously need more employees, but they should also be given the green light to be closer to the action,” said the FDP politician to the German Press Agency in Berlin.
“We also base our knowledge on friendly services. We then derive our information from this and get an idea of the situation. Could it be that other countries are taking a much more research-oriented and closer look?”
After the uprising of the head of the Russian Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, against Moscow’s military leadership, criticism of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) became louder. Chancellor Olaf Scholz had indicated that the German foreign intelligence service was surprised by the uprising.
Afghanistan, Mali and Ukraine as examples
Strack-Zimmermann has seen deficits for several years and points to the Taliban taking power in the Hindu Kush in 2021. “Taliban, Afghanistan. We have not received any information regarding this. And stood there pretty bare,” she said. “This was also the case with the Russian attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022. We were informed up to this point that the Russian army also has logistics and blood supplies, but nothing more.”
When assessing the situation in West African Mali, where the Bundeswehr is deployed on a blue helmet mission, more information was awaited as to the extent to which the country’s transitional government wanted to see the UN mandate completely ended, said Strack-Zimmermann. Certainly not everything was foreseeable, but a closer look was necessary in Mali, especially since the Wagner mercenary force had been present there for a long time “and was relevant militarily as well as politically and strategically”.
Helene Bubrowski and Matthias Wyssuwa Published/Updated: Recommendations: 29 Reinhard Veser Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 16 A comment by Jochen Buchsteiner Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 23
She sees the situation with Prigozhin’s Wagner uprising in Russia in a row: “It was obviously also a complete surprise for the service. These are four significant events in quick succession that were not clarified in advance or simply not properly classified.”
Strack-Zimmermann: Germany hides dangers
She believes that there is also a mental structure problem in the secret service apparatus. The reason for this could be that Germany simply ignored certain dangers after the end of the Cold War. Previously, the old Federal Republic had a realistic risk scenario and also had a strong secret service. “Even under the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Chancellor Willy Brandt, Germany put 3.5 percent of its gross domestic product into defense,” said Strack-Zimmermann.
Three weeks ago, former BND President Gerhard Schindler accused politicians of having curtailed the capabilities of the Federal Intelligence Service too much in recent years. “Anyone who puts one legal chunk after another in the way of the BND shouldn’t be surprised that this has an impact on the efficiency of information procurement,” he said.
“The mutation from an operating intelligence service into an administrative authority that deals with itself is politically desired. The changes in the law in recent years have done exactly that.”
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