Bruce Schneier, the noted security technologist and fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for the Internet, is leaving his job as "security futurologist" at BT Group plc (the company formerly known as British Telecom). A spokesperson for the company confirmed to Ars that Schneier would leave BT at the end of December.

Recently, Schneier has strongly focused on analyzing the documents from the National Security Agency and GCHQ surveillance programs released by former NSA Contractor Edward Snowden. At a recent event in Washington, DC where he appeared in his capacity as a fellow at the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute, Schneier said that the exploits used by the NSA had broken the most fundamental security mechanisms of the Internet by creating backdoors to systems that could potentially be exploited by others.

Ironically, BT has been fingered by The Guardian, the newspaper that turned to Schneier for help in analyzing the Snowden documents, as a key partner in the surveillance programs of GCHQ. BT provided what the Guardian called "secret unlimited access to their network of undersea cables." BT, known as "Remedy" in GCHQ documents, would not comment on data provided to GCHQ or NSA at the time, noting only that it was obligated to comply with British and European Union law.

An anonymous source provided The Register with a copy of the internal e-mail announcing Schneier's departure, and the paper reports that the split with BT came because of Schneier's public comments about the NSA and GCHQ surveillance programs. BT denied that to the paper, "saying that the working relationship had come to its 'natural end.'"

Update: Bruce Schneier returned an e-mail to Ars, saying that his departure had nothing to do with the NSA—he simply wants to move on. "No, they weren't happy with me, but they knew that I am an independent thinker and they didn't try to muzzle me in any way. It's just time. I spent seven years at BT and seven years at Counterpane Internet Security, Inc before BT bought us. It's past time for something new."