 From 1986 till 1989 Brünner was a member of the country's powerful National Defense Council, and for approximately the same period, from 1986 till 17 March 1989, he sat as a member of the People's Chamber.Following the events during the closing weeks of 1989, however, on 31 December 1989 Horst Brünner was released from active service, along with his fellow Colonel Generals and Wolfgang Reinhold.On 9 November 1989, as the Berlin Wall came down, and the government spokesman Günter Schabowski announced at a press conference (mistakenly, as it later transpired) that the government leadership intended the wall to be opened with immediate effect (""sofort, unverzüglich""), Horst Brünner was reported to be one of several horrified government hardliners calling for the immediate closure of all the East German borders in order to save The Republic.