Right-leaning entanglements in the KSK almost led to the dissolution of the unit. After a reform process, the association should be back on track. But during the major raid in the Reich bourgeois milieu, an elite soldier is also arrested. The Commissioner for the Armed Forces still sees no alarm signal in this.
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, Eva Högl, does not believe that the reform efforts at the Special Forces Command have failed, despite the arrest of a KSK soldier in the course of the Reichsbürger raid in the morning. The staff sergeant is accused of having been involved in coup plans. Högl told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” that the accused active KSK member had been under surveillance for a long time. “The KSK had already become aware of him. That’s why I don’t question the path of reforms in the KSK.” She continued: “On the contrary, the terrorist group that has now become known must encourage the KSK to continue on the path of reforms so that any extremist processes are recognized early and consistent action is taken.”
Right-wing extremist incidents since 2017 had brought the association to the brink of dissolution. Former Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer had made the continued existence of the KSK dependent on the will to reform. A package comprising 60 measures had to be processed. In the summer of 2021, the minister declared that the KSK could remain in place.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser praised the work of the security authorities in the evening. “It was a very, very big blow and it is good and right that democracy is so well defended,” said the SPD politician on the ARD program “Maischberger”. What makes the group so dangerous is “that there was a military arm of it. With people who used to be in the Bundeswehr, so they can also handle weapons”. In addition to the active KSK member, two former soldiers are among the suspects who have been arrested.
Faeser said that anyone who has fantasies of overthrow and wants to overcome the basic democratic order has no place in the public service. She is currently working on changing the disciplinary law “so that we can get rid of such enemies of the constitution more quickly”. “Filtering out” these cases often takes far too long. “It makes me a bit stunned that we haven’t done more in recent years,” said Faeser. You have to “take a closer look” at authorities that deal with weapons, such as the Bundeswehr or the Federal Police. At the same time, the Federal Minister of the Interior emphasized that the vast majority of officials had “nothing to do” with cases like these. Faeser had already announced more decisive action against extremists in the public sector in January of this year.
The Defense Committee of the Bundestag will also deal with the large-scale raid and the allegations against the KSK. The committee chairwoman Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann told the “Tagesspiegel” that she had put the topic on the agenda for the upcoming meeting in order to find out details from the military counter-intelligence service MAD. “We will dry out this brown soup,” said the FDP politician.
