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 $400 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 2007, American participants included representatives from the U.S. Department of Defense, the State Department, the American Enterprise Institute, EADS North America, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. German participants came from the Institute for Security Policy at the University of Kiel, the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, the Atlantic Initiative, and the Global Public Policy Institute.

The group's program included briefings by senior representatives of the German Ministry of Defense and the European Commission. In addition, participants met with Victoria Nuland, American Ambassador to NATO and Jamie Shea, Head, Policy Planning, Private Office of the NATO Secretary General as well as Richard von Weizsäcker, former President of German, and Hans Ulrich Klose, Member of the German Bundestag and Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.