Security policy: National Security Council as a new control center

There is a National Security Council in the United States, Great Britain and many other countries – and soon also in Germany. In the new committee, information about the internal, external, digital and economic security is intended to merge. The Security Council is said to work on the crises, but also strategies for threats. In the future, competencies and knowledge should be better bundled, prepared and coordinated, as it says from government circles – so that the federal government can make decisions on a broad and well -founded basis for information. That is planned:

CDU, CSU and SPD have already announced a national security council in the coalition agreement. The tasks of the Federal Safety Council, which meets primarily for questions of arms exports, and the security cabinet pass into this new body. For the Security Council, a staff position will be built in the Federal Chancellery. 13 new jobs are created for this. The procedure of the new committee is to be decided at the next meeting of the Federal Cabinet on August 27, which is to take place in the Ministry of Defense in Berlin.

With the new committee, the “silo thinking” is to be overcome, as it says from government circles. There is a lot of knowledge, competence and information in the federal government and the security authorities – but so far they have never been gathered together. Political decisions would usually not be made on the basis of a complete “information environment”. That should change – the National Security Council should be the “linchpin”, in which security is networked and integrated. He should create position images and prepare information.

The Federal Chancellor, i.e. currently Friedrich Merz (CDU), is chaired by the National Security Council (NSR). Members are next to it: the ministers of finances, the foreign, defense, the inner and the judiciary, for economy and energy, for economic cooperation and development, for digital and state modernization as well as the head of the Federal Chancellery. Other members of the federal government should be consulted on the occasion.

Representatives of the German security authorities can also participate. Representatives of the federal states should also be consulted as a novelty – as well as representatives of other countries, the European Union or NATO. The National Security Council should finally be able to decide – unless under the Basic Law or a federal law, a decision of the Federal Government is not necessary, as it is said in a paper.

There should be no national security advisor like in the United States. In addition to the Security Council, there are very concrete ideas about a national crisis team from the federal government and a national situation center in the Federal Chancellery, it said from the government circles. Both have been announced in the coalition agreement. At first, however, the NSR should be brought up.

It was made clear in the government circles that the so -called department principle should not be undermined with the NSR. In advance, for example, the Federal Foreign Office was intensive.

The National Security Council is intended in crisis situations – Examples: The Iranian attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in mid -June or the beginning of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine in February 2022. Another example was the chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan in August 2021 after the Taliban took power – a committee of examination of the Bundestag was used. Another example of possible crisis and an NSR session would be a cyber attack on German authorities.

The Security Council is also supposed to meet regularly – on strategic topics. The committee is intended to provide a strategic foresight and planning in order to identify in addition to current events but also medium and long-term threats, to develop options for action and to make appropriate preparations, as the paper says. This also includes that the national security strategy developed under the traffic light government should be updated.

In this strategic work, the NSR is also to be supported by experts from factories, foundations and science. Decisions of the Security Council should also be published.