Niclas Kvarnström, a seasoned diplomat, has been appointed as Sweden's new national security advisor by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. The position, recently established by the current government, has been marred by scandals, with previous advisors forced to resign. Kvarnström, who previously led Sweden's campaign for a UN Security Council seat, has faced scrutiny for deleting emails related to the campaign. His appointment comes as a critical decision for Kristersson, aiming to restore trust in the sensitive role.
Niclas Kvarnström Appointed as Sweden's New National Security Advisor Amidst Controversies
Niclas Kvarnström Appointed as Sweden's New National Security Advisor Amidst Controversies
Ulf Kristersson appoints diplomat Niclas Kvarnström as the new national security advisor, reports Expressen. His two predecessors were embroiled in scandals, and Kvarnström himself was involved in a controversy for deleting emails at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"We have not tried to hide anything. We were possibly unprepared for this type of scrutiny," he said at the time.
Veteran diplomat Niclas Kvarnström, 50, becomes the new national security advisor. He most recently served as head of the Asia division within the EU's External Action Service (EEAS) and was previously Sweden's ambassador to Singapore.
The decision for a new national security advisor was made at Thursday's government meeting, according to Dagens Nyheter, and he will assume the position on Monday, the newspaper reports.
The top position of national security advisor, newly established by the current government, has been scandal-ridden. The first two holders of the position were forced to resign, creating severe crises for the government.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson knows that another failure in this sensitive position would shake confidence in him. Therefore, he has likely carefully considered the new appointment and thoroughly vetted the new security advisor.
However, Niclas Kvarnström's career is not free from controversies. In close collaboration with then-Foreign Minister Margot Wallström (S), he led the campaign for Sweden to become a member of the UN Security Council in 2017–2018.
"We have not tried to hide"
The campaign was conducted with great secrecy, and Dagens Nyheter revealed that Kvarnström had deleted a series of emails related to the campaign. These included emails to and from individuals in the Wallenberg sphere and emails from former politicians such as Pierre Schori (S) and Carl Bildt (M).
"We have not tried to hide anything. We were possibly unprepared for this type of scrutiny," said Niclas Kvarnström, who was head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office that led the campaign.
Nils Funcke, an expert on the principle of public access, criticized the actions.
"This is a way to completely circumvent the principle of public access and the right to transparency," he told DN.
Sweden conducted an intensive lobbying campaign focused primarily on countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to secure votes for Swedish membership in the Security Council.
Trial of Former Advisor Landerholm
DN conducted an extensive investigation and revealed numerous shortcomings, including that 900 pages of information had been withheld from the public. It was also confirmed by both the Social Democratic government and campaign leader Kvarnström that Swedish aid money had been used in the lobbying efforts.
In August, a trial will be held against former national security advisor Henrik Landerholm, a childhood friend and close political associate of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M). He is charged with negligence involving a secret document after leaving classified documents in an unlocked area at a conference center. A cleaner later found the documents.
This was one of several instances of negligence Landerholm was guilty of. He was forced to resign in January this year after more than two years as a security advisor.
His successor, diplomat Tobias Thyberg, had an even shorter tenure. He was appointed national security advisor on May 8 this year but resigned in less than a day after intimate images from the dating app Grindr came to Dagens Nyheter's attention.
Expressen seeks Niclas Kvarnström.