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On Monday, the Defense Committee of the Bundestag will hold a special session on the grievances in the Special Forces Command of the Bundeswehr.
Tobias Lindner is the chairman of the Greens in the committee and security policy spokesman for his parliamentary group.
In 2019 he trained as a tank gunner in the reserve with the Bundeswehr.
WORLD:
The KSK was founded in September 1996.
Why does a state need this military ability at all, Mr. Lindner?
Tobias Lindner:
It starts with hostage liberation and goes right up to the evacuation of German citizens from war regions in which the Federal Police's GSG 9 cannot be used.
There are also scenarios in which only special military forces can arrest terrorists or obtain information.
It is therefore undisputed in large parts of the Bundestag that we need this ability.
Tobias Lindner (Greens): "Everything must not be kept under the guise of secrecy"
Source: picture alliance / dpa
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WORLD:
General Inspector Eberhard Zorn has found a “misguided understanding of the elite and extremist tendencies” in the KSK, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) a “culture of sloppiness” in dealing with ammunition.
Where do you see the causes?
Lindner:
The grievances are manifold.
They come to light when dealing with ammunition and explosives, in the form of frequent right-wing extremist suspicions, even when the soldiers are awarded contracts or are engaged in secondary employment.
If you are looking for an overarching explanation, it reads: The KSK has developed into a kind of biotope within the Bundeswehr.
Due to the in part certainly necessary secrecy of the activities by the federal government, the elitist training, the personnel selection and the isolation, a separate army has emerged within the army - and has begun to lead a life of its own.
Ex-KSK soldier sentenced to two years probation
A former KSK soldier has been sentenced to two years probation in Leipzig.
Large quantities of weapons, ammunition and explosives were found in Philipp S.'s garden.
Source: WORLD / Matthias Heinrich
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WORLD:
Will the KSK have its 25th birthday this fall?
Lindner:
I assume so.
I don't believe in solving problems by breaking up.
However, the KSK only has a chance of survival if it is fundamentally reorganized.
A lot has to change in the troops, but also in the parliamentary procedure.
We only discussed the KSK in the Defense Committee when there were grievances.
As a technical committee, however, we have to deal with it on a regular basis.
That we are only informed about the ongoing missions in small, secret meetings - that's okay.
But what's the problem with talking about completed missions?
It doesn't have to be every few months.
But we should do it once a year.
Everything must not be kept under the guise of secrecy.
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WORLD:
Last year, Kramp-Karrenbauer announced that it would sweep through the command with the "iron broom".
Did she do that?
Lindner:
Doubts have arisen in many parliamentary groups.
There was an illegal amnesty of amnesty, the Bundestag heard about it from the media.
Information has been deliberately withheld from the Defense Committee for months.
Disciplinary investigations were delayed and only took place when Parliament called for clarification.
All of this makes it very doubtful that Kramp-Karrenbauer's will to provide information is actually serious and comprehensive.
WORLD:
This collection campaign, in which KSK soldiers were able to return tens of thousands of rounds of illegally hoarded ammunition free of punishment, took place in April and May 2020.
The minister claims that she only found out about it from the newspaper on February 11, 2021.
Is that believable?
Lindner:
It takes a lot of imagination to be able to believe the minister.
In the files I read: At the end of May, the order was given to stop the collection campaign.
By then, at the latest, the commander of the superior Rapid Forces Division was informed.
We know that the inspector of the army and the inspector general discussed this in June.
The special session on Monday is supposed to clarify what the state secretary knew and when.
In any case, all the alarm bells have rang - and I simply cannot imagine that only the minister did not hear them.
WORLD:
According to your findings, you were in contact with all relevant actors.
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Lindner:
Yes.
So either she's not telling the truth.
Or you have to find out if no one has really told her anything for months: Kramp-Karrenbauer does not have her ministry under control.
And then she has to seriously ask herself whether she can still trust the people who have kept it all from her.
After all, there is a suspicion in the room that a general has exposed himself to the suspicion of having thwarted criminal offenses by ordering an amnesty - that is precisely why the Tübingen public prosecutor is now investigating.
WORLD:
Kramp-Karrenbauer received a 15-minute briefing on ammunition from the KSK on June 29, 2020 during a visit to Calw.
The collection campaign had only ended a few weeks earlier - and the minister was not told that and how 46,000 rounds of ammunition had just turned up?
Lindner:
I think that's absurd.
On the day before this briefing, the Inspector Heer and the Inspector General, as both testified in the committee, discussed the ammunition issue.
They decided: there are so many inconsistencies that they need a quarter of an hour in the minister's calendar the next day to talk to her about them.
And then you don't mention the amnesty within those 15 minutes?
That seems far from the reality of life to me.
WORLD:
In September 2020, the Army Command's first report on the ammunition investigations was written.
In this paper, the "Fund Ammunition Campaign" plays a prominent role.
The report went to Inspector General Zorn - only to him?
Lindner:
I have requested the initials and the Revo number of this report several times in order to understand who has read and edited it.
The result: Allegedly there is no file number.
Allegedly there are no paraphs.
I find that extremely astonishing.
For all I know, the paper went not just to Anger, but to the ammunition task force, which was made up of several people.
A large part of the house management knew this report.
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WORLD:
Zorn did not forward the report to the Bundestag.
As a minister, would you still have confidence in him?
Lindner:
No.
If it were my Inspector General, I would have asked myself whether I could still work with him.
WORLD:
The minister wanted to name more “responsibilities and persons in charge”.
Did that happen?
Lindner:
No.
In the government's last interim report, it is noticeable that parts of it were identified in great detail - for example the case of KSK soldier Philipp S., who buried ammunition in his garden.
There was cooperation with the public prosecutor, everything very exemplary.
When I look at the topic of dealing with ammunition in general, on the other hand, a lot remains inaccurate, because it says: Can no longer be clarified, could not be determined, was three years ago.
My assumption: The service supervision of the KSK is carried out by the Rapid Forces division.
And if you look at the list of division commanders in recent years, many of them now have four stars on their shoulders.
WORLD:
From 2011 to 2019 it was Jörg Vollmer, now active in NATO;
Eberhard Zorn, currently General Inspector;
Andreas Marlow, today Commanding General of the German-Dutch Corps;
and since 2019 Andreas Hannemann.
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Lindner:
Exactly.
Of course, Mr. Hannemann will have to put up with a lot of unpleasant questions in the special session on Monday because he is now responsible.
But actually one should go further into the past.
You mentioned the names.
My impression is: You consciously try to bypass these responsibilities.
Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) and Andreas Hannemann 2017. Today the Major General is the commander of the Rapid Forces Division, to which the KSK belongs
Source: pa / Daniel Karman / Daniel Karmann
WORLD:
Alfons Mais, the army inspector, says that "constant missions, lack of regeneration, shortages in staff and non-existent overpressure compensation" made the catastrophic conditions possible.
How does that fit into sideline jobs for which many soldiers apparently had time?
Lindner:
That question also arises for me.
On the one hand, we have the Corn Declaration.
On the other hand, we hear of frustration in the KSK because the soldiers were never properly deployed, because they were never allowed to rescue hostages.
And there were numerous permits for sideline jobs.
That is contradicting itself.
I also lack the attempt to elucidate connections and motives.
We have the problems with right-wing extremism, the inconsistencies with ammunition, the sideline jobs and the award of contracts without tenders.
Are there any connections?
Do the commissioned companies have connections in right-wing extremist or Reich citizens' milieus?
What kind of employers are those for whom the secondary employment was carried out?
There are many unanswered questions.
WORLD:
What political danger does the KSK cause for the minister?
Lindner:
Should it turn out that Kramp-Karrenbauer did not tell the truth and knew about the amnesty amnesty, then your days as Minister of Defense are numbered.
It is very clear.
In addition, anyone who announces a fundamental reform of the KSK must also demonstrate a comprehensive willingness to educate and reform, which includes high-ranking officials.
In any case, I have my doubts that this will exists.