By Emmanuel Nduka
Sweden’s newly appointed national security adviser, Tobias Thyberg, resigned just a day after taking office when explicit images from an old Grindr profile were anonymously sent to the government.
Thyberg, who began the role on Thursday, stepped down Friday morning after failing to disclose the existence of the images during the required security vetting process.
“These are old photos from a previous Grindr account. I should have disclosed them, but I didn’t,” he told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
According to Expressen, the government received multiple sexually explicit images shortly after announcing Thyberg’s appointment.
He had been scheduled to accompany the prime minister to a summit in Norway on Friday, but his attendance was canceled.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson described the incident as a failure of the security vetting system. “This kind of information should have been uncovered earlier,” he told reporters in Oslo.
The resignation marks the second controversy involving Sweden’s national security post in recent months.
Thyberg’s predecessor, Henrik Landerholm, stepped down earlier this year and now faces charges for allegedly mishandling classified information by leaving sensitive documents unsecured in a hotel.
Prosecutors say Landerholm’s negligence could have jeopardized national security, although his lawyer has stated that he denies any wrongdoing.
