DThe chairwoman of the Bundestag Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, wants to reduce the number of participants at certain meetings in order to reduce the risk of confidential information being passed on from the committee. The FDP politician announced talks on Deutschlandfunk on Wednesday morning. The ministries should withdraw employees they have sent when secret matters are discussed. “We will make the suggestion. “That won’t spark any joy,” said Strack-Zimmermann.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (FDP) has already told her that he wants to do this. The committee itself could also make suggestions to ask some of the employees to leave the room when discussing secret topics. They want to talk to the chairmen in the committee about the procedure.

After the secret meeting of the Defense Committee on Monday last week, information about the Taurus cruise missile was made public. 105 people took part in the meeting. Bundestag President Bärbel Bas expressed surprise that Strack-Zimmermann had allowed this.

Two thirds are not full members

The Liberals pointed out that the committee has 38 full members, and depending on the topic, some of their deputies are also there. Two thirds, however, come from ministries, the Chancellery, the Federal President's Office, secret services and state representations of the federal states. That is documented law. She couldn't say there were too many there. “I can’t do that, the President of the Bundestag knows that very well,” said Strack-Zimmermann.

Nevertheless, it must be clear to everyone that if they report from such a meeting, they could be prosecuted, warned Strack-Zimmermann. Since Russia's attack on Ukraine, she has observed a “casuality” on the part of some people to report from the committee.