Prof. Dr. Schlie introduced his opinion piece, entitled “Can Pistorius' reforms secure the future of the Bundeswehr?” with an assessment of the new reforms to the organization of the Federal Ministry of Defense (Bundesministerium der Verteidigung - BMVg). He pointed out that on August 1st, Boris Pistorius ordered a restructuring of the BMVg for the third time since taking office as Federal Minister of Defense. The aim of the new reform is to strengthen military and strategic leadership capacities, accelerate procurement of military equipment, and promote organizational integration. This includes establishing a new command and situation center as well as reducing the number of departments from ten to eight and the number of permanent state secretaries from three to two.
In the rest of his opinion piece, Prof. Dr. Schlie questioned the effectiveness of the reforms outlined above, as it remains to be seen whether they will be able to fulfill the overall goal of “strategic control.” Furthermore, the security expert pointed out that the military tasks and objectives of the Federal Armed Forces are currently incompatible with the bureaucratic requirements and framework conditions of the BMVg. In addition, it remains to be seen “[...] whether the new leadership structure facilitates the political role of the defense minister as a departmental minister and holder of command-and-control authority.” Prof. Dr. Schlie cited other organizational challenges facing the BMVg, including the limited efficiency of military equipment procurement, the still unclear design of future conscription, and the operational modalities of the upcoming National Security Council (Nationaler Sicherheitsrat - NSR).