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Austria - Ministry of Defence and Sports

Under the constitution, the president is the nominal commander in chief of the armed forces. In reality, the chancellor has operational authority, exercised through the minister for national defense. The chancellor also chairs the National Defense Council, which has as its members a vice chairman, the minister for national defense, an appointee of this minister, the general troop inspector of the armed forces, and a parliamentary representative.

The minister for national defense, acting in cooperation with the minister for interior, coordinates the work of the four major committees under the National Defense Council: the Military Defense Committee; the Civil Defense Committee; the Economic Defense Committee; and the Psychological Defense Committee. The general troop inspector acts as the senior military adviser to the minister for national defense, assists the minister in the exercise of his authority, and, as head of the general staff, is responsible for planning. However, the army commander exercises direct operational control of the Bundesheer in both peacetime and wartime.

Article 79 of the constitution, as amended in 1985, states that the army is entrusted with the military defense of the country. Insofar as the legally constituted civil authority requests its cooperation, the army is further charged with protecting constitutional institutions and their capacity to act, as well as the democratic freedoms of the inhabitants; maintaining order and security in the interior; and rendering aid in disasters and mishaps of extraordinary scope.

In administering the armed forces, the Ministry for National Defense is organized into four principal sections and the inspectorate general: Section I deals with legal and legislative matters; Section II handles personnel and recruitment matters, including discipline and grievances; Section III is concerned with troop command, schools, and other facilities, and it also comprises departments G-1 through G-5 as well as a separate department for air operations; and Section IV deals with procurement and supply, quartermaster matters, armaments, and ordnance.

The general troop inspectorate is a separate section of the ministry with responsibility for coordination and fulfillment of the missions of the armed forces. It encompasses a general staff department, an attaché department, and planning and inspection groups.

The armed forces consist solely of the army, of which the air force is considered a constituent part. As of 1993, the total active complement of the armed forces was 52,000, of whom 20,000 to 30,000 were conscripts undergoing training of six to eight months. The army had 46,000 personnel on active duty (including an estimated 19,500 conscripts), and the air force had 6,000 personnel (2,400 conscripts).

On 12 January 2007 Norbert Darabos became Austria's new Minister of Defence and thus head of the Austrian Armed Forces. Since 2003 Darabos has been Secretary General of the Austrian Social Democratic Party. Austrian Defense Minister Norbert Darabos, the first Defense Minister not to have served in the military (he performed civilian service rather than serve as a conscript soldier), had a notoriously difficult start in the Defense Ministry. In addition to still not entirely resolved issues related to the procurement of Eurofighters, Darabos had a difficult relationship with the Austrian military. Darabos restructured the senior ranks with an eye towards strengthening the very small group of Social Democrat officers, but had neither wanted nor been able to create a purely social democratic senior command.

Darabos also confronted the general Staff on arms control -- revising over their opposition the Ministry's previous rejection of a total ban on cluster munitions. Darabos also expects the Ministry to take a more pro-arms control stance and more active role, especially with regard to conventional weapons control, in the future. In connection with the October 2007 cabinet decision to legislate a total ban on cluster munitions use by Austrian forces, Darabos declared "disarmament is a core element of Austrian security policy."

The most difficult of Darabos' initiatives, however, was his support for the deployment of 160 Austrian personnel to the EU mission in Chad. The immediate upside, however, was that the mission was strongly supported within the military and by the Social Democratic party. However, the up to 70% of Austrians who opposed the mission and, buoyed by a strong campaign against it in Austria's mass-circulation "Kronenzeitung," contributed to driving Darabos' poll standing into the cellar. However, the situation now appears to have turned around. Darabos, who traveled with 11 journalists according to Meindl, and the Chad mission received glowing media coverage during the Minister's April tour to Chad.