The special forces command of the Bundeswehr, shaken by scandals, has a future.
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer informed the Defense Committee representatives in a video conference on Tuesday that she had decided to keep the elite unit.
She also informed the politicians that she had decided on a new commander.
The confirmed specialist politicians of the FAZ committee. First, the German press agency reported about it.
Lorenz Hemicker
Editor in politics
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The decision to continue was generally expected, at the latest after the final report on what was going on in the KSK was published last Wednesday.
It said that of the 60 measures to reform the command, over 90 percent had been implemented.
A right-wing extremist network was "not recognized";
however, among the 1,500 soldiers in Calw, around 50 suspected cases of right-wing extremism and imperial citizenship would have arisen.
Change to a quieter position
In addition, Kramp-Karrenbauer said on Tuesday that the KSK's military capabilities are unique and will continue to be needed. If the association consistently continues on its chosen path, it will continue to be a "strategic instrument of security precautions". And that both nationally and in association with Germany's partners.
On Monday, according to information from the FAZ, during a visit to Calw, Kramp-Karrenbauer informed KSK commander Markus Kreitmayr about her decision about the command and her plans with him. The Brigadier General is to be replaced on September 1st and Brigadier General Ansgar Meyer will take over the KSK. Meyer already has something to do with the KSK. He is currently commanding the last German Afghanistan contingent, whose withdrawal from the increasingly threatening environment around the base in Mazar-e-Sharif is now to be covered by the commandos.
After three years at the helm of the KSK, Kreitmayr is moving to an obviously much calmer position. At the Hardthöhe in Bonn he is to become the head of the operations department in the command of the armed forces base. Committee circles spoke of a "cooling pool". On the one hand, Kreitmayr is credited with having resolutely pushed ahead with the reform process in the KSK together with his management staff. On the other hand, he is under criticism for a collection campaign for missing ammunition, which he initiated in spring 2020. The public prosecutor's office in Tübingen is investigating an initial suspicion of a violation of the Military Penal Act.
The post looks like a sink in the face of Kreitmayr's predecessor at his new post.
Brigadier General Georg Valentin Klein became known to the German public as the officer who ordered the air strike near Kunduz in 2009.
When a tanker truck was bombed, not only Taliban fighters but also numerous civilians were killed.
For Kreitmayr's direct superior, Major General Andreas Hannemann, the career ladder is initially only going sideways.
Kramp-Karrenbauer decreed that the previous commander of the Rapid Forces Division would move to Münster and take on the role of deputy commander in the German-Dutch corps.
Hannemann only stopped Kreitmayr's collection campaign, which resulted in tens of thousands of shots, after several weeks.
In addition to the personnel changes, Kramp-Karrenbauer announced that he would create a new post in the operational command. There a special forces director with the rank of brigadier general will in future be exclusively responsible for special operations of all special forces of the Bundeswehr, including the independent command of the special forces of the navy. The green defense politician Tobias Lindner said of the decision: "You will have to calmly see whether and which improvements the new director of special forces in the operational command actually brings."