Begun in 1982 as the Multiplikatoren Seminar (Multiplier Seminar) and co-sponsored by the German Marshall Fund and the Armed Forces Office of the German Defense Ministry, the annual Manfred Wörner Seminar brings together 30 young Americans and Germans to examine German and European security policy and to discuss U.S.–German and U.S.–European security interests.  The Seminar serves to deepen understanding between participants from both countries and offers an excellent opportunity to broaden professional networks.

The ten-day program takes place each year in three German cities — Bonn, Cologne, and Berlin — and in Brussels, Belgium, and consists of meetings with experts on security and defense in both the German–American and European–American framework.  Participants are drawn from a diverse range of professional and educational backgrounds and, once selected, pay a $500 fee to attend the Seminar (covering airfare from Brussels to Berlin).  All other program expenses, including travel, accomodations, and meals, are paid by the German government.

In 2009, participants of seminar included representatives from the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich, several staffers from the Bundestag, the German Foreign Office, and the German Council on Foreign Relations on the German side and representatives from the Department of Defense, the Department of State, EADS North America, AEI, the Council on Foreign Relations, and Chemonics International on the American side.

The group's program included briefings by senior representatives of the German Ministry of Defense and the European Commission. In addition, participants met with Dirk Brengelmann, Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany to NATO, Egon Ramms, Commander of NATO's Joint Forces Command in Brunssum, as well as Hans Ulrich Klose, Member of the German Bundestag and Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.