ABSTRACT
The pinnacle of national security decisionmaking in Germany is the Federal Chancellery, or Bundeskanzleramt (BKA). The BKA is roughly comparable to the office of the prime minister in Israel, the cabinet office in Britain, or the White House in the United States. Brandt firmly established the BKA as the administrative and political center of Germany’s national security system. Control of foreign policy and national security is lodged in the BKA under the direct supervision of the chancellor. The political body responsible for national security decisionmaking is the Federal Security Council, a special cabinet committee chaired by the chancellor. The Council includes as permanent members the ministers of defense, foreign affairs, finance, economics, interior, and the minister of transport, posts and telecommunications in his capacity as deputy minister of defense. The main staff facility dealing with national security is the Secretariat General de la Defense Nationale.
