Secret services: How black and red the control of parliament weakens

Mr. Kuhle, the FDP was elected from the German Bundestag more than four months ago, and the parliamentary group has been dissolved. As a member of the most secret committee of the Bundestag, you continue to work in parliament. Do you still have a desk?
My colleague Alexander Müller and I are actually the last two FDP politicians with a function in the German Bundestag. As members of the parliamentary control committee for the control of the intelligence services, we continue on a voluntary basis until our successors are elected. That happens this Thursday.

And the office?
My office has not existed for a long time. Fortunately, the employees also have new jobs for a long time. But the control of the intelligence services must also continue if there is a new legislative period of the Bundestag.

The Parliamentary control committee Tats secret, the agenda is not public, the guests are not, not even the time of the meetings. Wouldn’t it be better if the population were informed about what the secret services warn of?
There is a public hearing of the presidents of the intelligence services once a year. It always takes place in autumn. The current president of the Federal Intelligence Service, Bruno Kahl, found very clear words about the threats from Russia at the last public hearing.

We experience sabotage of critical infrastructure and hybrid attacks on our democracy every day. In view of these developments, one can well imagine that the intelligence services are particularly concerned with this situation.

That sounds like the famous sentence by ex-interior minister Thomas de Maizière: Part of the answers would unsettle society.
A high degree of confidentiality and confidentiality is important for the work of the intelligence services. The fight against international terrorism or illegal weapons trade is based on the cooperation of many involved states that pass on information to each other. You can’t spread that in front of the public. Regardless of this, I find that the public relations work of German intelligence services can be further improved.

A public hearing per year is not enough. According to the model of other European intelligence services, for example in the United Kingdom or in the Baltic States, the BND in particular should make certain sensitive information public at regular intervals so that the population finally internalizes how great the threat is from Russia.

Instead, you can now buy promotional items from the BND, hats and also socks.
A few years ago, such an offensive public relations work would have been frowned upon. Today there is even a visitor center at the BND in Berlin. So a lot has happened. The promotional items are primarily used to find applicants for working at the BND. We don’t just need more soldiers in Germany. The federal intelligence services, i.e. BND, constitutional protection and military shielding service, as well as the services of the federal states need more qualified staff.

The secret committee will be re -elected on Thursday. Many inexperienced members will move in because experienced people like Roderich Kiesewetter are exchanged by the SPD by the CDU as well as Ralf Stegner and Marja-Lisa Völlers. Is that a risk?
Roderich Kiesewetter from the CDU could continue to play a very important role in the committee as a military and foreign policy expert in these times. This also applies to the SPD defense politician Marja-Liisa Völlers. If clever and independent heads are removed from the body from their factions because they are too uncomfortable, this is the perversion of control.

One could also say: Because Roderich Kiesewetter did his job well, he loses it now. That can’t be right. Regardless of these cases, it does not speak against the new colleagues when they move into the committee for the first time. Everyone started at some point.

The committee is also reduced from 13 to nine seats. Does that mean less control of the services?
The committee has been smaller in the past. A total number of nine MPs is not a problem in itself. A smaller circle of secrecy also serves confidentiality. However, a problem arises in the current parliament that two seats from the nine seats are omitted to the AfD and a seat of the left faction is due.

If the three candidates of these parties are not elected on Thursday, then with Konstantin von Notz from the Greens, only one representative of the opposition in the committee sits. The control over the government and the parliamentary majority by the opposition is therefore trimmed to a single MP. This is not the right way, especially in times of international crises. And it is particularly concerned because the authorities sometimes intervene deeply into the fundamental rights of the citizens.

Do you think the non-election of representatives of AfD and LINKE in such an important body is justified?
The representatives of the AfD should not be elected because this party is subject to a conflict of interest as part of the right -wing extremist scene in Germany with regard to the work of the intelligence services. The AfD is also closely intertwined with Putin’s regime in Russia. If you choose representatives of the AfD to the committee, you can also meet publicly in Moscow.

The situation is more differentiated in the left faction. Until the left faction was dissolved in the past parliamentary term, André Hahn, a member of the left belonged to the committee, which could also be chosen by the CDU/CSU and FDP. The fact that the left faction is now sending its chairwoman Heide Reichinnek into the race is a pure provocation.

Why this?
It is absolutely uncommon for a parliamentary group leader to sit in the parliamentary control committee. Membership means that you often have to take part in secret meetings over a very long period of time without any telephone accessibility. I doubt that this is compatible with the role of a parliamentary group leader.

If the two representatives of the AfD are not elected, the other members of the committee must also be present. I can also understand that the Union does not want to choose the new figure of the left in the committee. More professionalism is required here. I hope that the factions will be put together again on this question. The left should suggest another person from their faction.

The expenditure for the intelligence services increases from 1.4 billion to 2.3 billion euros in 2029. Friedrich Merz is now building a kind of CIA?
The difference between services such as the CIA and the German services is that our services are pure intelligence services without surgical powers. A larger household does not change that. The services in Germany have to be technically better equipped with the additional money. It takes more staff, but also more speed.

The structure of German intelligence control has also become very confusing. Different bodies are often on each other on their feet. The new federal government should reform the legal foundations of the work of the intelligence services and also create more clarity.

Warnings have often come from abroad so far, especially the USA.
Basically, it is not a problem, but the normal case that intelligence services share information with each other. German services also help abroad. Nevertheless, I think it is necessary that in view of an unpredictable American president, we become faster and better in obtaining more information.