Boris Pistorius on the Taurus wiretapping affair: calm as a strategy

Enlarge image

Air Force chief Ingo Gerhartz: He also apparently allowed himself to be contacted unprotected by telephone

Photo: ANNEGRET HILSE / REUTERS

When the Defense Minister came out of Hall 2,700 of the Bundestag around 7:15 p.m., he tried to appear quite relaxed.

He spent a good two hours answering pressing questions from members of the Defense Committee that have been accumulating since the publication of a conversation between high-ranking Air Force officers that was overheard by Russia.

“The investigation is continuing, as is the assessment,” says Boris Pistorius in front of the microphones set up.

Basically, when it comes to the eavesdropping process, things are still “as they were last week.”

Enlarge image

Pistorius after the Defense Committee: Don't fall for Putin

Photo: Annegret Hilse / REUTERS

It is doubtful whether the minister is actually as relaxed as he appears.

In any case, Pistorius had to completely clear his schedule on Monday because of the wiretapping scandal.

The Parliamentary Control Committee of the Bundestag, which controls the work of the intelligence services, summoned him before the Defense Committee.

There, too, the MPs wanted to know how the eavesdropping operation could have happened.

In a brief statement they then announced that they expected consistent clarification.

It was agreed with Pistorius that “Germany must be much more robust, resilient and defensive in the future” when it comes to protecting internal communications.

So far only preliminary investigations

Pistorius prepared well for both sessions.

The head of the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) was at his side; Martina Rosenberg is leading the investigation into the eavesdropping attack.

Inspector General Carsten Breuer is also there.

The Bundeswehr's top soldier is conducting preliminary investigations into the soldiers involved in the conference and must soon decide whether to open formal disciplinary proceedings.

After a good hour of meeting time, the committee switches to “secret”.

The deputies have to lock their cell phones outside; a red warning light turns on to the left of the door.

What little is known from the two meetings has the potential to further fuel the affair.

Until now, Pistorius had always emphasized that the eavesdropping operation was only possible because Brigadier General Frank Gräfe had dialed into the group from a hotel room in Singapore via an unprotected cell phone connection.

However, the MAD has now found out that Gräfe was not the only participant with an insecure connection.

Air Force chief Ingo Gerhartz also apparently allowed himself to be contacted unprotected by telephone.

Pistorius emphasizes that there was no data leak during this connection, at least that is the current status.

And another of the minister's claims is also shaky.

Last week, Pistorius stated that hardly any secrets worth protecting were revealed during the discussion about the capabilities of the Taurus cruise missiles.

This assessment is no longer widely shared by the investigators.

In any case, after the meeting it was said that the details of the Taurus's capabilities in particular were probably to be rated significantly higher than just "VS - for official use only".

If this were to be confirmed, the officers would not have been allowed to hold their meeting via the Webex conference platform.

Pistorius tries to gain some time after the meeting.

He says several times that it is too early for consequences.

And he repeats the sentence with which he stood before his officers last week: "I'm not prepared to give up our best officers; that would mean putting Putin on the hook." Now it's more about: to strengthen internal communication.

"After the uproar that this caused, everyone probably realized how carelessly cell phone communication is sometimes handled," says Pistorius.

The Air Force is already trying to look forward.

On Monday, Inspector Ingo Gerhartz sent out a command order entitled “Protection of Information.”

In it, he instructs his commanders to instruct all soldiers again about the use of the Bundeswehr's secure communication systems.

The aim is to protect all sensitive information from unauthorized access, manipulation or theft.

No new protective measures are mentioned.

Instead, the newsletter is primarily intended to increase sensitivity so that an incident like the “Taurus Leak” does not happen again.