Cyber ​​agency officially founded

"To ensure digital sovereignty", a cyber agency is to be set up under the leadership of the Defense and Interior Ministry. Their start had been postponed several times. Now there was an official founding act.

Halle / Berlin (dpa) - A year and a half after the first announcement, the federal government's new cyber agency with temporary headquarters in Halle has been officially founded. A corresponding document had been signed, announced the Federal Ministry of Defense in Berlin.

Federal Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) spoke of a "milestone in protecting our IT systems". The new agency is jointly funded by the Ministry of Defense and the Federal Ministry of the Interior.

It is intended to initiate and promote research projects that improve internal and external security in the cyber world. To this end, it will initially be financed with 350 million euros until 2023. Up to 100 jobs are to be created directly at the agency. The new facility is initially based in Halle. In the long term, it is to be located at Leipzig / Halle Airport.

Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) said the agency was specifically located in this region, which is also affected by the structural change caused by the phase-out of lignite. "That is lived home politics."

The cyber agency's research director is Christoph Igel. He was a leading head at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence before he switched to the Bundeswehr and now took over the development of the new cyber agency. The first urgent task will be to attract the best minds in Germany on the subject of cybersecurity, Igel is quoted by the Ministry of Defense. It is not yet clear which research the agency will specifically support.

There will be an opening ceremony in Halle in October. The start of the cyber agency had been postponed several times. The search for a location initially took longer than planned, then the Bundestag's budget committee slowed down because there was a dispute about the organizational form of the agency. Most recently it was said that the agency would be founded in March. A few weeks ago she moved into her quarters in Halle.

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