Incorrectly dialed into a call
Air force inspector also made mistakes in the Taurus leak
March 11, 2024, 10:02 p.m
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Defense Minister Pistorius says he doesn’t want to “fall for” Russian President Putin and “put his best officers out there.” For the time being, he is not drawing any personal conclusions from the intercepted Taurus conversation – but he does reveal details about participant Gerhartz.
In the intercepted conversation between Bundeswehr officers about Taurus cruise missiles, the second participant dialed in incorrectly. Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius confirmed this on Monday evening after a special meeting of the Bundestag Defense Committee. It was the Air Force inspector, Ingo Gerhartz. However, according to previous investigations, unlike another participant, there was no data leak for him.
At the beginning of March, an apparently wiretapped 38-minute conversation between Air Force Inspector Gerhartz and three other high-ranking German officers about arms deliveries to Ukraine was published in Russia. In it, the officers used the Webex communications platform to discuss operational scenarios for the German Taurus cruise missile if it were delivered to Ukraine.
Pistorius emphasized that he wanted to wait for further investigations into the incident before deciding on the consequences. There are currently preliminary disciplinary investigations. The minister said it was about the question of what “should have been discussed and what not” in the conversation and what technical errors had been made. “This will be processed and then there will be a decision as to whether the preliminary disciplinary investigation will result in disciplinary proceedings and then what kind,” said Pistorius.
“Exactly what Putin expects from us”
But it’s about the participants who were bugged, emphasized Pistorius. He said he was not willing to “take a chance on Russian President Vladimir Putin and expose my best officers – whether they made a mistake here or not.” This is “exactly what Vladimir Putin expects from us.”
As a general lesson from the incident, Pistorius announced that he would once again increase awareness of security issues in the Bundeswehr and, if necessary, harden the protection systems used. It should now be clear to everyone, even outside the Bundeswehr, “how carelessly cell phone communication is sometimes handled,” said the minister. But even with better protective measures, such interception incidents could never be completely ruled out.