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East Germany PARAMILITARY FORCES
In addition to the NVA and the Border Troops, SED military
doctrine recognizes several categories of armed agencies,
primarily certain agencies of the Ministry of the Interior and
the Ministry of State Security, the Civil Defense forces, and the
Working-Class Combat Groups. Western analysts generally define
these additional categories, along with the GST, as paramilitary
forces, although at least one source relegates the Border Troops
also to the paramilitary category. Moreover, other elements of
the two ministries, while not classified as armed agencies, also
play a role in national security. The GST, although de facto a
paramilitary organization, is not officially designated an armed
agency by the East Germans because it, as a premilitary training
society, cannot constitute a direct component of national defense
in a state of emergency.
Data as of July 1987
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