Bundeswehr personnel
MAD has a large backlog of security checks
7/23/2023 3:23 p.m
Military and civilian personnel of the Bundeswehr are checked by the troop’s secret service, the MAD. But there are still almost 70,000 unsolved cases on his desk – a huge backlog. The Union demands clarification.
The Bundeswehr currently has a massive backlog of outstanding security checks for personnel. As of May 31, the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) had a total of 69,687 uncompleted procedures for military and civilian personnel in the Bundeswehr, according to a response from the Federal Ministry of Defense to a request from the Union faction, from which the “Bild am Sonntag” quoted.
Such security checks should provide information about the extent to which an employee could pose a risk – for example with a view to extremist activities or espionage activities. CDU defense expert Ingo Gädechens was appalled by the traffic jam at MAD and spoke of a “scandal” in the newspaper.
“Almost 70,000 people are waiting to be checked in order to be fully operational for service – numerically that’s almost half of the soldiers,” said Gädechens. “Especially with a view to right-wing extremism and Russian espionage, this is a significant security risk.” He expects Defense Minister Boris Pistorius from the SPD “to explain to Parliament immediately after the summer break how he intends to close these security gaps as quickly as possible,” said Gädechens.
Verification takes up to 80 weeks
There are three levels of security checks, depending on what secret information the employee is allowed to see. In its reply to Gädechens, the Ministry of Defense did not want to say how long the procedures last on average. According to information from “Bild am Sonntag” from ministry circles, the procedures at the strictest level Ü3 should last more than 80 weeks.
According to the ministry, there is a security gap when viewing the Internet profiles of Bundeswehr employees. After a right-wing extremism scandal in the troops, the Bundestag tightened the security checks in the Soldiers Act in May 2021. For posts with particularly high security requirements, the MAD – the Bundeswehr’s secret service – must now also examine the employee’s visible entries in social networks.
According to the law, the ministry must specify in an ordinance which Bundeswehr jobs are subject to this additional check. But the Ministry of Defense has still not submitted it after more than two years. “A legal ordinance is being sought. Internal votes are still being taken on this,” the ministry admitted when asked by the newspaper. Defense expert Gädechens criticized this sharply: “Here the security of the country is sloppy – apparently because the work backlog at MAD is too big.” Before Pistorius and his party colleague Christine Lambrecht, the ministry was in the hands of the Union from 2005 to 2021.