Keyword: Networked Security
The chief determinants of future security policy development are not military, but social, economic, ecological and cultural conditions, which can be influenced only through multinational cooperation.
It is therefore not possible to guarantee security by going it alone, or with armed forces only. What is called for, rather, is an all-embracing approach that can only be developed in networked security structures based on a comprehensive national and global security rationale.
Germany uses its influence in the relevant international and supranational organisations, from the United Nations, European Union, North Atlantic Alliance, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, International Monetary Fund and World Bank, through to the G8 framework, to improve the coherence of the community of states and its capability to take action.
An all-round picture of the situation and, building upon that, a shared situational understanding of all the actors form the basis for security policy decisions, at national and international level. In developing a picture of the national situation, an interministerial approach is needed that considers and brings together all aspects. Cooperation between the Federal Intelligence Service and the military intelligence organisation of the Bundeswehr has already been intensified as a step in this direction.
In future the Federal Intelligence Service will, as part of its statutory responsibilities, take over the task of central situation analysis and updating for the Federal Ministry of Defence (FMoD) and the Bundeswehr, contingent on their requirements. This is also to meet the increased demand for information of forces on operations as a consequence of the broadened task spectrum of the Bundeswehr. On the basis of the most accurate information possible, military instruments can be purposefully deployed as part of a political strategy.
Important steps have been taken to establish an interministerial network structure by setting up the “Crisis Response Centre of the Federal Foreign Office”, where the crisis unit of the Federal Government meets in the event of civil crises and disasters abroad, the “National Air Security Centre”, the “Joint Counter-Terrorism Centre”, and various facilities at Federal and Land level for the protection of the population. This structure remains open to adjustments to cope with changed tasks. An intensified exchange of personnel between the supreme federal authorities, and suitable continuation training measures, for instance at the Federal College for Security Studies, will additionally help to expand interministerial cooperation.
The Federal Government’s overall concept of “Civilian Crisis Prevention, Conflict Resolution and Post-Conflict Peace Building” is an element of this national security rationale. It comprises the areas of economic, environmental, financial, educational and social policy, among others, besides the classic fields of foreign, security, defence and development policy. The necessity of networking security structures and their main actors derives from this, with the elimination of structural crisis causes being seen as a cross-cutting, inter-agency task. The concept is being implemented under the responsibility of an interministerial steering group to which all federal ministries belong.
