The German Bundestag has denied security clearances and access permissions to IT systems for several staff members of parliamentarians. The Bundestag administration announced the decision on Wednesday, citing “security-critical findings within the necessary reliability verification” as the basis for the rejection.
According to the administration, there was a perceived possibility that denied applicants could misuse access provided by house passes and system logins to pursue activities deemed “anti-constitutional”. Granting such access would pose a risk to the operational capacity, security, integrity and trustworthiness of the Bundestag. Concrete and specific indications suggest that the pursuit of anti-constitutional aims could impair the Bundestag’s function, working procedures and the safety of parliamentarians and all present within the building.
Bundestag President Julia Klöckner (CDU) stated, “The German Bundestag is an open parliament – simultaneously, it is the space of our democracy that we must particularly protect”. She emphasized that no compromises could be made regarding the internal and external security of the Bundestag. For all individuals granted independent access to buildings and IT systems, there must be absolute certainty regarding their personal reliability.
Klöckner further explained that the volume and severity of the security-critical findings concerning the staff members in question made the rejection of their requests unavoidable. The decision underscores the Bundestag’s commitment to maintaining stringent security protocols and safeguarding its operational integrity.
