The former president of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) had been accused of being close to Russian intelligence services.
(Photo: Imago, dpa [M])
Bruehl, Berlin On December 1, Arne Schönbohm no longer has a choice. “Today I’m clearing my personal belongings from my office, where I’ve worked for almost seven years,” typed the President of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) into his LinkedIn profile. He writes 317 words of thanks to his employees. And none about him leaving involuntarily.
The events leave little doubt. A few days after the broadcast of a satirical program in which Jan Böhmermann accused the BSI boss of being close to Russian intelligence services, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) transferred the 53-year-old Schönbohm.
This caused indignation in the authorities. A BSI officer commented under the text on LinkedIn that this was a “sign of poverty”. He has the impression “that other reasons are in the foreground here” than the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) communicates. The official version states that the “necessary trust in Schönbohm’s neutrality and impartiality” was “permanently damaged”.
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