Military leadership council

The Military Leadership Council ( MFR ) is the highest military body in the Bundeswehr . It is made up of the General Inspector of the Bundeswehr , who chairs it, and the inspectors of the armed forces and organizational areas. In addition, the deputy inspector general and experts called in by the chairman take part in the meetings. The Military Leadership Council deals with matters of fundamental importance to the armed forces, but has no formal decision-making powers.

It is thus comparable to facilities of other armed forces, e.g. the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US armed forces .

history

"Berlin Decree" on the top division of the Bundeswehr

With the establishment of the Bundeswehr in November 1955, Adolf Heusinger was reactivated as Lieutenant General on November 9th and appointed Chairman of the newly established Military Leadership Council on November 22nd, which was to serve as an advisory body to inform the civilian leadership of the likewise new Federal Ministry of Defense .

A little later, on December 8, 1955, the leadership council was constituted in a first meeting and from then on had the following tasks:

His task was to study future warfare with special attention to the use of nuclear weapons in the areas of general warfare, tactical leadership and the review and coordination of the tactical command and control regulations of the armed forces. In addition, proposals should be drawn up for the deployment of the new West German armed forces to defend Western Europe and their integration into NATO structures . As part of this work, proposals for changes to the NATO military system and statements on such proposals should and could also be processed. Furthermore, the organization, training and readiness for use should be planned and coordinated with the respective military departments. In order to build up a national defense , proposals should also be made for the demands on the economy and the transport system of the young Federal Republic . This topic also included the conception of down-to-earth defense, its tasks, structure and deployment as well as personnel and material additions. The last important subject area was the planning of the training of future General Staff officers , the proposals for their selection, as well as the training course and later use by the Military Command Council.

After the reclassification of the military departments into management staff, the members of the leadership council were the inspector general of the Bundeswehr, the inspectors of the armed forces and the inspector of the medical and health services. The deputy inspector general also took part in the MFF meetings.

The position of the MFR within the organization of the Ministry of Defense was initially only provisional. This was determined by Defense Minister Helmut Schmidt ( SPD ) in the Blankenese decree of March 21, 1970. Three years later, on June 20, 1973, his successor Georg Leber (SPD) ordered that the deputy inspector general be a full member of the MFR.

The MFR has always been chaired by the Inspector General, who also sets the agenda, so the Management Council can generally be regarded as the management body of the German armed forces at ministerial level. After the armed forces base was established in 2000, the armed forces base inspector , who was also the second deputy of the inspector general, also became a member of the leadership council.

composition

Rank and name	Function in the Military Leadership Council	Origin (armed forces)
General Eberhard Zorn	General Inspector of the Bundeswehr (Chairman)	army
Vice Admiral Joachim Rühle	Deputy General Inspector	marine
Lieutenant General Alfons Mais	Army inspector	army
Vice Admiral Andreas Krause	Navy inspector	marine
Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz	Air Force Inspector	air force
Lieutenant General Martin Schelleis	Force Base Inspector	air force
Lieutenant General Ludwig Leinhos	Cyber ​​and information space inspector	air force
General Oberstabsarzt Ulrich Baumgärtner	Inspector of the medical service	army

See also

• Top division of the Bundeswehr

Web links

• Federal Archives for the Military Leadership Council

supporting documents

1. ^ The Dresden Decree, Section II. 5. (PDF) In: www.bmvg.de. March 21, 2012, accessed March 30, 2012 . 
2. ↑ Federal Archives on the subject ( Memento of the original from January 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.