Thyberg confirms to Dagens Nyheter that it is about an image from Grindr, a dating site for LGBTQ people. "He should have informed about this but he didn't. He has therefore announced that he does not intend to take office as national security adviser," he says in a comment to DN. According to Ingesson, who researches intelligence analysis at Lund University, it is serious if one withholds information that forms the basis for a security clearance. It is not known what the image is about, but Ingesson means that it does not play a major role what it is about. "It is precisely the fact that one withholds something, it suggests that one thinks it is embarrassing and does not want it to come out."
Foreign Power Maps
"There is a lack of trust, Ingesson means, which a foreign power can exploit to influence. It can look different, and the situation can be built up step by step. "It is difficult to assess whether other countries have access to the image, but it is still "pretty likely" according to Ingesson. "Because it is a person who has a type of high-profile job. Then it is a routine matter to dig into that person.
"As a foreign power, one is interested in just such things that one tries to hide."
Thyberg has also been an ambassador in Ukraine and Afghanistan. "If he has not told this in the recruitments, what can it imply? "It is difficult to say, there are significantly more ambassadors than security advisers. It is clear that the job he was going to take now is more sensitive," says Ingesson and continues: "The more interesting you are as a target, the more energy a foreign power puts into mapping."
Register Control is Conducted
Johan Wikström, press spokesperson at the Security Police, says that as a rule, it is the employer who is responsible for the security clearance in its entirety. "When it comes to persons or services that are placed in a security class in accordance with the Security Protection Act, it is done as part of the security clearance, and the Security Police are responsible for it."
And what registers are looked at then? "The control includes data retrieved from, among other things, the criminal record register and the suspicion register," says Wikström.
