Christian Schmidt
Christian Schmidt is the Deputy German defence minister. 'Schmidt was born in Obernzenn, district of Neustadt/ Aisch–Bad Windsheim on 26 August 1957.'[1]
Education and early career
According to a biographical note 'On completion of his secondary education with the university entrance qualification he did basic military service with the 1st Mountain Division. Subsequently he studied law in Erlangen and Lausanne. Upon completion of his legal studies in 1985 with the Second State Examination in Law he worked as a lawyer predominantly in the fields of labour law and competition law.'[2]
Political career
Between 1984 and 1990, Schmidt was a local and district councillor. In 1990 he was elected a member of the German Bundestag where he was 'foreign and security affairs spokesman of the CSU group of parliamentarians from Bavaria and was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.'[3]
- From 1994 he was an alternate member of the Defence Committee. Since 1999 he has been a member of the advisory council of the German-Czech Discussion Forum and chairman of the German-British Parliamentary Friendship Group. From October 2002 to November 2005 Christian Schmidt was Defence Spokesman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, a member of the Defence Committee, and an alternate member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.[4]
Schmidt was appointed a Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Defence in November 2005.[5]
Views
He advocates the use of ballistic missile defence to protect states from attack arguing in a speech on national security 'to me, an important step would be the development of a missile defence capability to protect our territory and population. However, unintended confrontation must be avoided. We can only collectively find a way to efficiently implement this course, thereby providing an additional degree of security in a partnership with other states such as Russia'[6]
Affliliations
Club of Three speaker at London meeting on Defence and National Security, 6-7 March 2009[7] | Democracy and Security International Conference, Attendee [8]
Notes
- ↑ Atlantic Council of the US Christian Schmidt, accessed 30 March 2009
- ↑ Atlantic Council of the US Christian Schmidt, accessed 30 March 2009
- ↑ Atlantic Council of the US Christian Schmidt, accessed 30 March 2009
- ↑ Atlantic Council of the US Christian Schmidt, accessed 30 March 2009
- ↑ Atlantic Council of the US Christian Schmidt, accessed 30 March 2009
- ↑ Christian Schmidt, Speech Transcript, Threat and risk perception in Europe and the US, Accessed 28-February-2009
- ↑ Institute for Strategic Dialogue, Club of Three: Special Session on Defence, 6 - 7 March 2009 London, accessed 30 March 2009
- ↑ Democracy and Security Conference, List of Participants, Accessed 25-February-2009
