Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) has dismissed the President of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), Arne Schönbohm. This was announced by a spokesman for her ministry on Tuesday in Berlin – the “Spiegel” had first reported.
Schönbohm was criticized for a possible lack of distance to Russian secret service circles via the controversial association “Cyber Security Council Germany”. Several media reported that Schönbohm is said to have maintained ongoing contacts with the club. He is also one of the co-founders.
In 2019, the association’s president, Hans-Wilhelm Dünn, also admitted contacts with Russian secret service agencies to the ARD magazine “Kontraste” and the weekly magazine “Die Zeit”.
According to dpa information, Schönbohm had been suggested several times to distance himself from the “Cyber-Sicherheitsrat Deutschland e.V.”. At the beginning of September, however, the head of the authorities appeared at the club to publicly congratulate it on its tenth anniversary.
More to come.
