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Germany debates AfD access to secret defense plans · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What happens if war breaks out and one of Germany's
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: state governments cannot be trusted with the country's secret defense plan? Well,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: that question is being debated after the far-right AFD party's
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  Speaker 1: victory in the state of Saxony-Anhalt earlier this month. The
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  Speaker 1: party's Russia-friendly stance has raised concerns about the security of
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  Speaker 1: classified information. One defense organization has even called for restricting
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  Speaker 1: Saxony-Anhalt's access to the files. But could that leave part
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  Speaker 1: of Germany unprepared in a military emergency? And could it
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  Speaker 1: disrupt the country's role as a NATO hub? And our
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  Speaker 1: political correspondent, Simon Young, he joins me now from here
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  Speaker 1: in Berlin. Simon, why do the German federal states, why
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  Speaker 1: do they even have this plan? How much of it
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  Speaker 1: do they have access to?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Brent, the so-called Operationsplan Deutschland, or Operational Plan for Germany,
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  Speaker 2: is a document that sets out how Germany would react
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  Speaker 2: and fulfil essential tasks and, as part of the NATO alliance,
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  Speaker 2: how it would defend itself in case of conflict. And
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  Speaker 2: it covers things like critical infrastructure, such as power plants...
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  Speaker 2: food and water supplies, health care and so on. And
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  Speaker 2: also it covers what German armed forces would do, what
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  Speaker 2: the chain of command would be. But also it's about
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  Speaker 2: what's called host nation support, i.e. How would the militaries
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  Speaker 2: of the other allied NATO nations be supported with food
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  Speaker 2: and fuel and medical supplies and so on? So the
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  Speaker 2: regional states are absolutely key in implementing a lot of
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  Speaker 2: what's in this plan. And of course, therefore, they've been
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  Speaker 2: involved in drafting it and they have a lot of
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  Speaker 2: knowledge of what's in it.
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  Speaker 1: And we have to... Admit that the state of Saxony-Anhalt,
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  Speaker 1: it lies at the heart of Germany. Could Germany's defense plan,
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  Speaker 1: could it still work if a strategically located state were
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  Speaker 1: excluded or refused to cooperate, which some have suggested because
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  Speaker 1: of the AFD's strength in that state?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's hard to say. The location could
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  Speaker 2: make a difference. Germany is especially important for NATO as
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  Speaker 2: a logistics hub. And this role would obviously be very
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  Speaker 2: important in the case of a conflict. A lot of
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  Speaker 2: key east-west transport routes passed through Saxony-Anhalt. So if the
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  Speaker 2: government there was obstructive, that could obviously be a problem.
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  Speaker 2: But such a case is in fact covered in Germany's constitution.
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  Speaker 2: Article 37 of the Basic Law effectively says that on
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  Speaker 2: matters of national importance, the national government can overrule the
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  Speaker 2: state government's How this would be implemented, particularly during a conflict,
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  Speaker 2: is a bit hard to guess. This is something that's
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  Speaker 2: never been tested.
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  Speaker 1: The AFD's political proximity to Russia, is that reason enough
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  Speaker 1: to trigger action or would authorities, would they need further
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  Speaker 1: evidence of influence for this move?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. And again, these things are in flux. They're being
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  Speaker 2: discussed right now. Various German authorities are discussing how they
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  Speaker 2: would react if a state government were formed in Saxony
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  Speaker 2: and held under AFD control. The interior ministers from the
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  Speaker 2: 16 states, for instance, have just been meeting to discuss
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  Speaker 2: what changes they might make. For instance, how are they
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  Speaker 2: going to protect intelligence services? sources, which they're very worried
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  Speaker 2: about getting into Russian hands. So that would be one
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  Speaker 2: key area where I think, you know, there would be
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  Speaker 2: a reaction and it's already being discussed at various levels.
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  Speaker 1: And Simon, is this the only safeguard that Berlin is
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  Speaker 1: considering in the event of an AFD-led state government? Or
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  Speaker 1: is this one, is it just the tip of the iceberg?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think there are, as I say, there are
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  Speaker 2: various things that could be imagined. It's clear that, for instance,
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  Speaker 2: within the intelligence community, people are very concerned. They want
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  Speaker 2: to protect sources, but also to at the same time,
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  Speaker 2: they're sensitive of the need to share information. For instance,
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  Speaker 2: if there were warnings of a terrorist attack, they couldn't
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  Speaker 2: really withhold that from whatever government, including an AFD led one,
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  Speaker 2: because the consequences would be very serious for doing that.
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  Speaker 2: So the idea is not to withhold information. all information
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  Speaker 2: from the AFD, but to look very carefully about what
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  Speaker 2: kind of information they might get into their hands and
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  Speaker 2: thereby get into the wrong hands.
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  Speaker 1: All right, DW, Simon Young with the latest from here
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  Speaker 1: in Berlin tonight. Simon, as always, thank you.