Radios that cannot communicate with allies; paper-only medical records that need to be mailed; military documents sent by fax, rather than secure email.
The German armed forces’ digital and communications systems are in a woeful state, Eva Högl, the commissioner responsible for overseeing the Bundeswehr, warned on Tuesday. Her comments come a week after a Russian wiretapping scandal embarrassed military leaders and plunged the government of Olaf Scholz into fresh political turmoil.
“This urgently needs to be changed . . . and it has to be done quickly,” said Högl, an independent official appointed by the German parliament when presenting her annual report. “Why are we where we are? Because not enough investment was made in the past . . . we are now realising the seriousness of this.”