The special forces command of the Bundeswehr (KSK) gets because of right-wing soldiers in the ranks of the elite unit increasingly in the sights of military intelligence MAD. State Secretary Gerd Hoofe wrote in a confidential letter to the Parliamentary Control Panel of the Bundestag that the increasing number of MAD investigations against allegedly extreme right-wing KSK soldiers makes "further action clear".
The letter from Hoofe is written in a sober tone. Translated from the official language but his sentences illustrate the concern in the ministry. So Hoofe writes that the numbers of MAD investigations against right-wing extremists are constant. Ironically, the elite unit KSK but has currently become the "focus of work" of the MAD. MAD President Christof Gramm had already reported in January, the suspicion at the KSK are far too high.
Background of the warning from Hoofe are according to SPIEGEL information always new investigations against active commandos. At the beginning of the year, the MAD still led around a dozen soldiers as so-called suspected cases, and this number has now risen to well over two dozen. For a small unit, which has only about 1100 members, these numbers are "above average", it says in safety circles.
Pig's head long throw and right skirt
As a suspected case, the MAD called soldiers when there is serious evidence that they have a right-wing and anti-constitutional world view. In doing so, the MAD classifies the cases in different color grades: with red, recognized right-wing extremists are led who are dismissed from the Bundeswehr. However, there are shades of yellow underneath. In these cases, disciplinary sanctions or a ban on transport are usually imposed first.
According to the MAD from spring, the KSK is being investigated against a handful of soldiers for having taken part in a more than tasteless farewell party for a departing commander in April 2017. According to a witness, after a course run in which a pig-head long throw was on the program, right-skated. The commander has since been given a penal order.
How valid the many new cases of suspicion are away from this group of soldiers, the MAD is this week in the secretive control panel of the Bundestag declare. There, the KSK was in the past months again and again topic and many deputies gave the impression that the MAD investigations are too lax. At the end of September, the body, which is to control the work of the secret services, travels to the MAD in Cologne.
Difficult investigations in the most secret federal defense unit
For the MAD, as the smallest secret service of the Federation responsible for the defense of extremist soldiers, the research within the KSK are difficult. Unlike other units, there is no service in the KSK barracks in Calw, also the elite unit is considered extremely closed. Instead of addressing superiors or even the disciplinary investigators, incidents are better clarified among themselves. Especially against this background, the sentences of State Secretary Hoofe seem particularly grim.
The special forces command is the secret unit of the Bundeswehr. About the operations of the commando warriors and the Bundestag is taught only cursorily, the elite warriors are trained mainly for hostage extermination abroad and for the fight behind enemy lines. In addition, KSK forces are also on almost all foreign missions of the Bundeswehr in use, they are mainly to ensure the protection of other soldiers.
Especially with regard to the KSK, the MAD has been under pressure for months. Thus, an officer of the elite unit was suspended in February, because he was clearly recognized after MAD investigations as a supporter of the far-right "Identitarian Movement". In retrospect, however, the dismissal of Lieutenant Colonel Daniel K. seemed to be a very late measure, because in 2007 he had threatened a critical soldiers' association in writing and given an insight into his world view.
At that time K. scolded a critical soldier as an "enemy inside". The lines from the letter, which at that time was also available to his superiors, were no less than a death threat. "They are observed, no, not by impotent instrumentalized services, but by officers of a new generation who will act when time permits," wrote K. He signed the letter with the words, "Long live holy Germany."
