Germany has been a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since May 1955. Until unification West Germany was the only NATO country with territory bordering two members of the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet bloc’s anti-Western defense alliance, and NATO strategy was founded on West Germany’s vulnerability to an armed invasion. The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact and the admission of Poland and the Czech Republic to NATO have eased Germany away from this “frontline” status.

The German contribution to the Western defense system takes the form of its combined arm of defense known as the Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr). The German military forces are divided into an army, navy, and air force. From its inception the Federal Armed Forces was envisioned as a citizens’ defense force, decisively under civilian control through the Bundestag, and its officers and soldiers trained to be mindful of the role of the military in a democracy. Conscription for males was universal until July 2011, when the country adopted an all-volunteer force. Germany maintains a separate Coast Guard and Federal Police (Bundespolizei) force.

After unification the former East German People’s Army (Volksarmee) was integrated into the Federal Armed Forces. The special troops who had guarded the Berlin Wall and the boundary with West Germany, together with the factory militia, were disarmed and dissolved. In the 21st century there was much discussion about the future of the German military, particularly regarding the role of the Eurocorps, a pan-European ready-reaction force, and the expansion of the role of German forces in international activities (e.g., the NATO-led war in Afghanistan). As the focus of the armed services shifted from border defense to operations abroad, a massive plan for the reorganization and downsizing of German forces was undertaken. Beginning in 2006, the German military began its transformation into a smaller, all-volunteer force, and cuts were made to reduce spending across all three branches of service. Additionally, the Bundeswehr was restructured into three broad, joint-operations command categories: response forces, designed for high-intensity combat operations; stabilization forces, intended for lower-intensity peacekeeping missions; and support forces—the largest of the three groups—tasked with command, control, logistics, and training.

Germany’s national police force, the Federal Police, handles emergencies outside the jurisdiction of state police forces, such as border control and air and rail security. Law enforcement remains a province primarily reserved to the states, and each state maintains its own police force, which is charged with all phases of enforcement, except where its function is assumed by a municipal force. In the event of a national emergency, the federal government may commandeer the services of various state police units, along with the standby police reserve that is trained and equipped by each state for action during civil emergencies.

The federal government investigates certain actions, particularly those related to the internal security of the state and crimes that transcend state boundaries. National agencies include the Berlin-based Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst; BND), which combats external threats; the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz; BfV), headquartered in Cologne, which compiles information regarding threats posed to security by domestic groups; the Customs Criminological Office (Zollkriminalamt; ZKA), also based in Cologne, which investigates customs violations; and the Federal Criminal Investigation Office (Bundeskriminalamt; BKA), headquartered in Wiesbaden, which provides forensic and research assistance to federal and state agencies investigating crime, as well as coordinating efforts among various state, national, and international police forces. The BfV is noteworthy for tracking the activities of extremist groups and publishing statistics annually, while the BKA has taken on a more prominent counterterrorism role in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

The People’s Police of East Germany was dissolved upon unification, and its members were integrated into the police forces of the new states. The loathed Ministry for State Security (Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, popularly known as Stasi) was also dissolved, and its files were removed into Western custody.