The Defense Department will be downright demilitarized during the latest structural reform. The officials must gradually strip off their uniforms and assume civilian functions. There is a calculation behind it.
The Ministry of Defense established a new structure in the summer of 2021. Very few people were involved in the elaboration of this reform. The main person responsible at the time was the secretary-general, Dieter Kandlhofer, who left the ministry after alleged misconduct at Klagenfurt airport – the presumption of innocence applies. The current chief of staff, Rudolf Striedinger, was also involved.
The new structure replaces the former military command structure with directorates. This had never happened before and was internally criticized by many for merging the strategic and operational levels: an absolute no-go in the military leadership, as they deliberately separate the different levels of leadership. In addition, the tasks of the budget and personnel were removed from the General Staff and assigned to the political level.
This structure has been in use since the summer of 2021 and the new organization charts and job descriptions have been drawn up at the same time. Any new job must be approved by Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler’s (Greens) Ministry of Civil Service. This determines what value and therefore what remuneration a job has and whether it can be occupied by a military or a civilian. There is only an either/or.
Now the result came back from the Ministry of Civil Servants and lo and behold: contrary to the proposals of the Ministry of Defense, most jobs were devalued and most of the jobs proposed for officers were for civilians.
This means that officers and non-commissioned officers can no longer work for the ministry. This means that in the future, thousands of soldiers will not get a promotion and higher pay unless they “take off their uniforms” and become civil servants. Not only is this a disapproval of those in uniform, military know-how is also being lost.
This is how the two department heads of the audit departments are affected: military expertise is a basic requirement for this and many other jobs, and will no longer be in demand in the future. According to a Krone insider, 80 percent of the Defense Department will be civilian-led in ten years’ time. This means that the defense department will be permanently weakened without any external need.
The head of the section is considered the brain of the Ministry of Civil Servants Christian Kemperle. In 2020, he transferred from the Ministry of Defense to the Ministry of Civil Servants as Head of Section.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
