German Leaders Prepare to Deny Far Right Access to Secret War Plan

German Leaders Prepare to Deny Far Right Access to Secret War Plan - The New York Times

Skip to contentSkip to site index

Europe

Log in

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Today’s Paper

* Home
* + U.S.
+ International
+ Canada
+ Español
+ 中文

Russia-Ukraine War

* Russia’s Election
* No Energy Truce
* Ukrainian Military Audits
* Photos

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

Supported by

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

German Leaders Prepare to Deny Far Right Access to Secret War Plan

With the Alternative for Germany party close to power in a German state, federal officials are planning to limit the group’s access to classified intelligence.

Listen · 8:31 min

*
*
*
*

!The facade of the Saxony-Anhalt State Parliament, a grand yellow-and-white building. A police van is parked in the street outside.

*The State Parliament in Saxony-Anhalt, a state in eastern Germany where the AfD could soon take power.Credit...Jens Schlueter/Getty Images*

By Jim TankersleyChristopher F. Schuetze and Philip Kaleta

Reporting from Berlin, the reporters spoke with 17 German and foreign officials about federal efforts to restrict far-right access to state secrets.

Sept. 22, 2026, 12:00 a.m. ET

See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra más de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de búsqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google

Spooked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the German military drafted a 1,000-page blueprint in 2024 to set out how to respond to another Russian attack in Eastern Europe. Senior leaders in Germany’s 16 states are among the few government officials allowed access to the classified document, known informally as an “Oplan.”

Now, Germany’s federal government, under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, is preparing to restrict that access, in order to prevent a far-right, Moscow-friendly party — which won a recent election in the small eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt — from reviewing the plan.

That party, Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is trying to form a coalition government to take power in Saxony-Anhalt this fall. If the AfD succeeds, military leaders fear, the party might pass the plan to Russia, according to three senior officials familiar with the discussions.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive statecraft, as did 14 others who detailed further efforts to restrict an AfD-led state government from reviewing state secrets or blocking government cooperation.

Asked for comment, a spokesman for the German defense ministry said it was assessing what security-related information needed protection, but declined to offer further details.

A spokesman for the AfD, Jork Herrmann, said, “It would be utterly undemocratic and impossible to justify to voters to withhold intelligence information from the party based on unsubstantiated and unprovable allegations.”

---

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

---

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Related Content

*
*
*
*
*
*

*
*
*

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Site Index

Site Information Navigation

* © 2026 The New York Times Company
* NYTCo
* Contact Us
* Accessibility
* Work with us
* Advertise
* T Brand Studio
* Privacy Policy
* Cookie Policy
* Terms of Service
* Terms of Sale
* Site Map
* Canada
* International
* Help
* Subscriptions
*