The staff of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces

When the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces was set up, it was assumed that the Parliamentary Commissioner would require only a small staff to enable him to perform his statutory functions. However, owing to a rapid increase in the number of submissions, his staff soon had to be expanded. This was the only way to ensure that the various Parliamentary Commissioners were at the same time able to carry out the task of exercising parliamentary control over the Bundeswehr.

At present, the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces has a staff of around 50, about half of whom are higher-intermediate and higher service personnel directly concerned with the review of matters brought to the attention of the Parliamentary Commissioner.

The Parliamentary Commissioner’s staff are members of the Bundestag Administration, within which they form a separate Directorate-General entitled “Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces”. With regard to their work, they are under the sole supervision of the Parliamentary Commissioner; with regard to service regulations, they are under the supervision of the Secretary-General of the German Bundestag as the head of the Bundestag Administration.

The Directorate-General of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces is headed by a Chief Administrator, and is subdivided, in accordance with the principles of ministerial organisation, into divisions, the size and competencies of which are adapted to meet the corresponding tasks and priorities. Currently, there are five divisions. The following organisational chart shows how the Office is structured: