In 2009 he became Federal Minister for Economics and Technology, and after eight months became Federal Minister for Defence on 28 October 2009. He was really popular, but then people found that he cheated during his time at university. The university took away his doctorate, and he decided to resign as a minister on 28 February 2011. On 3 March 2011, he was formally discharged as Minister of Defence and introduced his successor, Dr Thomas de Maizière as the new minister. He resigned as a member of the Bundestag on the same day.