The Federal Ministry of Defence assists the Minister in fulfilling his many and varied responsibilities. It consists of the executive group, the civilian directorates and the military staffs. The Ministry performs the specific functions of the technical department for military defence, centering its efforts on planning and politico-military matters, the supreme command, the supreme authority for Bundeswehr administration including the armaments organization with a focus on procurement for the armed forces.
Germany E2I/ SSR mini-training
The E2I (Ertüchtigungsinitiative) with an annual budget of € 130 Mio. is among the most important instruments of German stabilization policy. Currently in the planning stage of the project cycle for next year, the Federal Foreign Office has requested ISSAT bring together key decision makers from the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defense in a half-day joint mini-training on E2I in the framework of broader SSR.
Briefing to the German Advanced Command and Staff College visit
The German Führungsakademie in Hamburg will be sending a group of high-ranking officers to be deployed in international missions worldwide to Geneva. DCAF was asked to give an introduction to its mission at the GCSP premises on March 27 along the following lines:
09:00-11:00 DCAF – A Centre for Security, Develpoment and the Rule of Law
DCAFs Policy and World Wide Engagement
- International Security Sector Advisory Team
- Security Sector Development Assistance in North Africa
SSR support to German Armed Forces Staff College planning exercise
- 17-18 February 2016: Receive the annual visit from the German Armed Forces Staff College (FuAkBw) to DCAF. Up to 15 OF3 (majors) will take part in the visit to International Geneva.
- 8-11 March 2016: Following on from initial support on SSR design and planning to the FuAkBw in November 2015, FuAkBw wishes to expand its understanding of SSR design and planning considerations in its March 2016 planning exercise. The planning exercise will run over the course of three weeks, involving Headquarters staff officers ranking from captains to brigadiers. The exercise will apply the Comprehensive Operational Planning Directive (COPD) to a NATO planning scenario. After assessing the NATO Commander's orders and reviewing Military Response Options (MROs), the exercise will design and elaborate a project. Part of the plan will integrate elements for preventing or de-escalating conflict, providing early warning and early action by building resilience, partly through the role of the military in SSR.
- 31 October - 1 November: Lead the Theory of Change sub-group for SSR as part of the OF5 Operational Thinking course, which gathers Germany's top 20 full colonels together to advance their military education.
SSR and Military Operational Thinking
From 2 to 6 November, the German Armed Forces Command and Staff College (Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr) are conducting a seminar on “Operational Thinking” for senior staff officers. One of the issues to be addressed is Security Sector Reform - discussions and syndicate work will investigate the actual challenges of SSR and the role of the military in it. The syndicate output will then later be integrated in a comprehensive approach to resolve the scenario crisis.
For the syndicate work on Tuesday (03 Nov), the Führungsakademie would like support from ISSAT in order to ensure the required depth of discussions and output.
Support to Ex Common Effort, 1GNC
A morning seminar (08:30-11:30) providing top level principles and frameworks for security and justice sector reform programming. It will focus specifically on defence reform, defence institution capacity building and the military contribution to security and justice sector reform.
Target group: Colonels and above at 1 German-Netherlands Corps (1GNC), as well as civil servant equivalents, and staff of NGOs and civil-society organisations.
The seminar aims to:
- Provide an awareness of the concept of SSR;
- Provide an overview of the policy frameworks of various international organisations;
- Show linkages with peace enforcement, peace-support operations, peace-keeping operations and stabilisation operations;
- Discuss roles of the military within the concept of SSR concept, including at the planning process, and in train and equip endeavours or security force assistance (SFA).
Additional support is provided to the Netherlands input on Thursday 21 May regarding incorporating non-state actors in SSR programming.
Other Documents
The 2016 German White Paper: Strategic Review and Way Ahead
The White Paper on Security Policy and the Future of the Bundeswehr is the key German policy document on security policy. It is a strategic review of the current state and future course of German security policy. It is thus the principal guideline for the security policy decisions and measures of our country. It establishes a framework in terms of concepts and content and provides starting points for strengthening the whole-of-government approach and developing further ministerial strategies.