BERLIN — The German government’s top cybersecurity chief was removed from his post on Tuesday after a hit comedy TV show highlighted his proximity to a German lobbyist group with ties to Russian intelligence.
The Interior Ministry confirmed on Tuesday the dismissal of Arne Schönbohm, who had led the Federal Office for Information Security since 2016. The allegations of possible ties to Russian intelligence, which were reported this month by a German satirical news show, “have permanently damaged the necessary public trust in the neutrality and impartiality” of Mr. Schönbohm, a spokeswoman for the ministry said.
The dismissal comes after the show, ZDF Magazin Royale, reported that even after Russia invaded Ukraine, Mr. Schönbohm stayed in contact with a lobbying group he had co-founded a decade ago that included a Russian cybersecurity firm founded by a Russian intelligence agent. The lobbying group cut ties with the Russian firm three days after the show aired.
The show did not link Mr. Schönbohm directly with Russian intelligence, though the current president of the lobbying group acknowledged such contacts.
Mr. Schönbohm did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the German newsweekly Der Spiegel quoted him as saying that he had asked this week for disciplinary proceedings to be opened to clear up the issue. The Interior Ministry said that the allegations “would be thoroughly and vigorously investigated” and that he was “presumed innocent.”
Mr. Schönbohm’s removal comes as the federal police have stepped up their focus on protecting German infrastructure from attacks. Fears were heightened after an attack last month on the Nord Stream gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, and the sabotage this month of a communication system used by the country’s trains.
The State of the War
Germany has been the target of Russian cyberattacks before, including one against Parliament in 2015.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has upended a host of German policies, including prompting the government to wean itself off the Russian energy that gave President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia leverage over Europe. Germany long thought that strong trade ties to Russia would make it more secure and help its economy, but it has worked to distance itself in the wake of the invasion.
Parliament cut post-chancellory perks for Gerhard Schröder, the country’s leader from 1998 to 2005, after he declined to sever ties to Russian oil and disavow his friendship with Mr. Putin.
Oct. 18, 2022, 6:49 p.m. ET
The invasion has also put pressure on the country’s leaders to vastly increase military spending. While Germany has donated many weapons to Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has resisted calls to send tanks for fear that Germany would be seen as a party to the war, he has said.
In Mr. Schönbohm’s case, the show’s host, Jan Böhmermann, reported that a company that marketed itself in Germany as Protelion was actually a Russian company called Infotecs that had changed its name soon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Infotecs was founded in Russia by Andrei Chapchaev, a former Russian K.G.B. officer who received a Medal of Honor from the Russian president this summer, Mr. Böhmermann’s show said.
The show implied that Protelion, which advertises itself as a service helping to secure the data and networks of its clients, actually makes that data more vulnerable to Russian hacking. Furthermore, the lobbying group co-founded by Mr. Schönbohm, which goes by the official-sounding name “Cyber Security-Council Germany” and includes establishment players, gave Protelion a veneer of respectability, according to the show.
Although the segment did not link Mr. Schönbohm to Infotecs, it focused on a 10th anniversary party of the lobbying group that Mr. Schöhnbohm had attended in September, while leading Germany’s cybersecurity office.
Mr. Böhmermann, whose show is similar in scope and ambition to “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” and regularly exposes corruption or hypocrisy, teased the revelations as Germany’s biggest birthday present to Mr. Putin.
However, some commentators were uneasy with Mr. Böhmermann’s portrayal of Mr. Schöhnbohm, whose participation in the anniversary party was reportedly approved by the Interior Ministry.
“If one looks more closely at the specific accusations against Schönbohm, however, not much remains,” wrote Jürgen Schmidt, a journalist who specializes in cybersecurity, in one opinion essay.
Mr. Schönbohm, a top bureaucrat who is the son of a conservative politician, cannot be fired unless major wrongdoing is proved. He will be simply removed from his post and placed on paid leave until a new job for him is found.
