Editing Munich Security Conference (section)

==History==
[[File:Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin 2009.jpg|thumb|upright|Founder [[Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin]]]]
[[File:Msc 2009-Friday, 16.00 - 19.00 Uhr-Zwez 010 Ischinger.jpg|thumb|upright|Chair 2009–2022 [[Wolfgang Ischinger]]]]

The conference evolved from the ''Internationale Wehrkundebegegnung'' / ''Münchner Wehrkundetagung'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=William S. Cohen |date=28 January 2014 |title=Little Patience for Frivolous Speeches - A Personal Remembrance of Wehrkunde and Ewald von Kleist |url=https://www.securityconference.de/news//article/little-patience-for-frivolous-speeches-a-personal-remembrance-of-wehrkunde-and-ewald-von-kleist/ |access-date=21 February 2014 |publisher=Munich Security Conference}}</ref> which was founded in 1963 by [[Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wolfgang Ischinger |date=13 March 2013 |title=Die Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz trauert um Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist |url=https://www.securityconference.de/news/news/article/die-muenchner-sicherheitskonferenz-trauert-um-ewald-heinrich-von-kleist/ |access-date=22 November 2014 |publisher=Munich Security Conference |language=de}}</ref> The resistance fighter from the [[Claus von Stauffenberg|Stauffenberg circle]] hoped to prevent military conflicts such as the [[World War II|Second World War]] in the future and brought together leaders and experts in security policy for this reason. The first meeting was limited to about 60 participants; among them were [[Helmut Schmidt]] and [[Henry Kissinger]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stefan Kornelius |date=30 January 2014 |title=Vom Privat-Treffen zum Riesenzirkus |url=http://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/-muenchner-sicherheitskonferenz-vom-privat-treffen-zum-riesenzirkus-1.1875580 |access-date=22 November 2014 |publisher=[[Süddeutsche Zeitung]] |language=de}}</ref> Von Kleist led the meetings until 1997; his successor who led them from 1999 until 2008 was politician and business manager Horst Teltschik ([[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|CDU]]).

Since 2009, the conference is headed by the former diplomat [[Wolfgang Ischinger]]. Ischinger established the Munich Security Conference <!-- g -->GmbH non-profit company in 2011, which he has led until [[Christoph Heusgen]] took over the position in February 2022.<ref name="Historisches Lexikon" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ambassador Wolfgang ISCHINGER |url=http://www.gcsp.ch/About-Us/Global-Fellowship-Initiative/Associate-Fellows/Ambassador-Wolfgang-ISCHINGER |access-date=22 November 2014 |publisher=Geneva Centre for Security Policy}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Curriculum Vitae of Christoph Heusgen |url=https://securityconference.org/en/about-us/chairman-team/christoph-heusgen/ |access-date=24 August 2022 |website=securityconference.org |language=en-GB}}</ref> Vice Chairmen are Ambassador Rainer Rudolph, successor to Ambassador [[Boris Ruge]], and Dr. Benedikt Franke, who is also CEO.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vorsitz und Team - Munich Security Conference |url=https://securityconference.org/ueber-uns/vorsitz-team/ |access-date=20 January 2024 |website=securityconference.org |language=de-DE}}</ref> 

In October 2024, former [[NATO]] Secretary General [[Jens Stoltenberg]] was named as the incoming chairman starting in 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 October 2024 |title=Jens Stoltenberg to be the next Chairman of the Munich Security Conference |url=https://securityconference.org/en/news/full/jens-stoltenberg-next-chairman-munich-security-conference/ |access-date=9 October 2024 |website=securityconference.org |language=EN}}</ref>{{Obsolete source|reason=Jens Stoltenberg became Norway's Minister of Finance instead.|date=February 2025}}

In 2018 the company was subsumed into the MSC Foundation, with an endowment from contributions by the German government and other big donors. Funding has increased from less than €1 million of public funding in 2008 to about €10 million of mostly corporate funding in 2022.<ref name="politico-20220216">{{Cite news |last=Karnitschnig |first=Matthew |date=16 February 2022 |title=In diplomacy, Europe's most powerful ambassador means business |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/diplomacy-wolfgang-ischinger-munich-security-conference/ |access-date=19 February 2022 |work=POLITICO}}</ref> 

The Munich Security Conference was canceled twice, in 1991 due to the [[Gulf War|First Gulf War]] and 1997 as a result of the retirement of Kleist-Schmenzin.<ref name="Historisches Lexikon" /> Under the leadership of Teltschik the Security Conference opened in 1999 for political, military and business leaders from Central and Eastern Europe as well as India, Japan, South Korea and the People's Republic of China.