Counter-Intelligence Fears Islamists Could Use German Army to Gain Skills

Germany's military counter-intelligence service reported that radical Islamists could be misusing the country's armed services as training camps in order to gain special military skills.

 

Ekaterina Blinova — Germany's counter-intelligence service is worried that would-be jihadists could be using the country's Federal Defense forces to gain military skills, Deutsche Welle reports.

Germany's MAD (Military Counterintelligence Service) announced Sunday that Islamists could have been using the Bundeswehr (the Federal Defense) to gain special military skills which they then would use in Syria and Iraq fighting together with the Islamic State.

MAD's President Christof Gramm expressed his deep concerns regarding the possibility that extremists could misuse the German Federal Defense forces as a training camp and proposed to run an initial check on all applicants to the country's armed forces andemphasized the importance of loyalty for future soldiers. Gramm revealed that in accordance with state laws, the counter-intelligence service cannot monitor candidates for military service. So far, this loophole can be used by extremists to penetrate secretly into Germany's armed services.

According to Christof Gramm almost 20 former Bunderswehr servicemen have already joined ISIL jihadists in the Middle Eastern war zone. It should be noted that earlier media reported that the notorious British ISIL fighter "Jihadi John" could have been trained with a German national.

The counter-intelligence chief has also told German journalists that according to his data one former Bunderswehr serviceman fled to Ukraine. Reportedly, the soldier joined eastern Ukraine's forces.