Contacts with Russian secret service circles?

Faeser probably wants to fire the head of the Federal Office

Created: 09/10/2022, 20:40

Nancy Faeser is said to want to fire BSI boss Schönbohm because of his alleged contacts with the Russian secret service.

© IMAGO/Christian Marquardt/NurPhoto

Nany Faeser apparently wants to remove Arne Schönbohm, head of the BSI, from his post.

The reason is, among other things, the revelations by Jan Böhmermann.

According to media reports, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) wants to recall Arne Schönbohm, President of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).

This is reported by

and the

, citing government circles.

A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior did not want to comment on the reports when asked by dpa.

Nancy Faeser wants to fire the head of the Federal Office Schöhnbohm: contacts with the Russian secret service?

Schönbohm has been criticized for possible contacts with Russian secret service circles via the controversial association "Cyber ​​Security Council Germany".

The connection of Schönbohm had previously been discussed

by Jan Böhmermann in his program

A spokesman explains that the Ministry of the Interior is investigating the facts and examining them closely.

Because of the provisions of civil service law, however, the head of the agency cannot simply be dismissed.

As the

reports, after the dismissal of Schönbohm, a new job will be sought as soon as possible and a successor will be sought for the BSI.

However, the BSI did not respond to a request.

Will BSI boss Schönbohm lose his position?

Böhmermann revelations get things rolling

According to Böhmermann, the association "Cyber ​​Security Council Germany" has been criticized for, among other things, the membership of the Berlin cybersecurity company Protelion.

This is a subsidiary of the Russian cybersecurity company OAOInfotecs, which, according to information from the research network Policy Network Analytics, was founded by a former employee of the Russian intelligence service KGB.

For a long time there has been dissatisfaction in the Ministry of the Interior about Schönbohm's role in and his dealings with the Cyber ​​Security Council.

The recent allegations and Schönbohm's visit to the club's anniversary have now apparently brought the last straw.

Faeser apparently wants to fire BSI boss Schönbohm - the digital committee should deal with allegations

The digital policy spokeswoman for the Left Group in the German Bundestag, Anke Domscheit-Berg, said on Twitter on Saturday that she had requested that the digital committee deal with the topic next Wednesday.

What Jan Böhmermann made public about connections between Russian intelligence services, "a dubious cyber security association, its members and the BSI" is incomprehensible.

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Apparently Schönbohm has been suggested several times to distance himself from the "Cyber-Sicherheitsrat Deutschland eV".

At the beginning of September, however, the head of the authorities appeared at the club to publicly congratulate it on its tenth anniversary.