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Hanne Blomberg, head of counterintelligence at the Police Security Service (PST), informs Dagbladet that the intelligence threat against Norway is extensive and persistent. Several nations have placed many intelligence agents in Norway. Some of the agents hide here from being diplomats, with diplomatic immunity, according to the PST.
If exposed, they will be declared unwanted in Norway, but will avoid imprisonment.
– Electronic services from foreign countries try to recruit Norwegian citizens as spies, says Blomberg.
– Norway is an interesting country for other nations. We see this in the activity of foreign intelligence organizations in Norway and against Norwegians abroad, says Blomberg.
Harmful
– The task of the PST is to prevent and deter threats against Norway as a nation. Today, the reality is that several countries are very active and are gathering intelligence in Norway. The respective intelligence organizations use all the tools available to them. We still experience that e-services from foreign countries are trying to recruit human resources in Norway, says Blomberg.
At the same time, it confirms that foreign intelligence services also use other methods besides the classic recruitment of spies to obtain intelligence.
– Foreign intelligence services also carry out computer and cyber attacks against Norwegian authorities, private companies and individuals. We have many examples of this.
– Which countries carry out more intelligence activities in Norway?
– PST’s focus is on countries with which we are not allied, because these constitute the greatest potential for damage.
– Who is more active?
– Russia, China and Iran, says Blomberg.
He does not want to name other countries, but confirms that the PST is aware that nations other than the three (Russia, China and Iran) are trying to obtain classified information in Norway. Information that can harm both the nation of Norway and companies and businesses that are exposed, among other things, to technology theft.
Recruitment agents
The PST does not want to disclose the number of attempts to recruit Norwegians as agents that they have discovered in recent years.
– I can confirm that several nations and foreign state actors are active in Norway and trying to obtain intelligence. Electronic services from foreign countries can do us great harm, says Blomberg.
Aftenposten revealed earlier this year that between three and four employees of the Russian embassy in Oslo were affiliated with the military intelligence organization GRU (Glavnoje Razvedyvatelnoje Upravlenije), and not with the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Blomberg does not want to comment on what the PST knows about Russian intelligence agents in Norway, but says:
– There are more than three or four people in the Russian embassy who are in Norway to conduct intelligence, he believes.
Great activity
– Foreign countries have always been active in Norway, and they remain its intelligence organizations. In Norway, we are unfortunately a bit naive. Many do not believe that they may have information that could be interesting for other countries and do not understand that they can be exploited, says Blomberg.
– What are foreign intelligence organizations looking for?
– Everything may be of interest to other countries. It could be a security policy. As a member of NATO, Norway has its own border with Russia. Everything that NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) covers is interesting and important for countries that are not members of the alliance.
– Intelligence organizations are interested in political decisions, research, business, technological development. There may be several reasons for the interest in the information. Some don’t have the resources or capital to develop technology on their own, says the head of counterintelligence.
Repel
– A few weeks ago, a Norwegian citizen was arrested and charged with spying for Russia. Is there reason to believe that Norwegians have been recruited?
– To the highest degree. We believe that more have been hired. I can also confirm that we are familiar with many attempts to recruit Norwegians, which we have avoided, says Blomberg.
She does not want to go into details, but still confirms that the PST every year avoids recruitment attempts by foreign intelligence.
– Does the PST have reason to believe that Norwegians have been recruited by foreign countries?
– The arrest of a Norwegian citizen a few weeks ago is not unique. In most cases, we prevent it from going that far. It’s not uncommon for us to make direct contact and prevent recruitment attempts from being made, says Blomberg.
He also notes that in recent years there has been a development in which foreign intelligence organizations commit assassinations in Europe, to clear people out of the way. Blomberg emphasizes that killings by the intelligence services of foreign countries have not been detected in Norway.
Greater room for maneuver
This summer, a Norwegian citizen, Mohammad Davoudzadeh LoLoei (40), of Iranian origin, was sentenced to seven years in prison in Denmark.
The former president of the Norwegian-Iran Friendship Association was convicted of spying in Denmark for an Iranian intelligence service. The court found him guilty of being an accessory to planning a murder in the Danish city of Ringsted.
It was the leader of the Iranian separatist movement ASMLA (Movement of Arab Struggle for the Liberation of Ahvaz) who was to be assassinated.
– There are examples of foreign intelligence organizations committing assassinations. One reason may be that the international political situation is more uncertain, says Blomberg.
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– Now we are seeing that Western intelligence organizations do not allow themselves more room for maneuver from their clients, the country’s political authorities, than before, says Blomberg.
Tricked into traps
The head of counterintelligence will say nothing about the methods the PST uses to expose foreign intelligence activities in Norway.
It is no secret that intelligence agencies have also used so-called “honey traps”, where female agents have seduced men to obtain information.
Blomberg confirms to Dagbladet that Norwegian citizens are tricked into cheating abroad every year.
– It happens in different ways. There are several examples each year of Norwegians abroad, on vacation or on business trips, who are tried to be recruited by the intelligence service of a foreign power. Some may end up unjustifiably in conflict and be accused of something they have not done. Then a representative of the country’s intelligence service can appear and say that the person in question can help, but in return, says Blomberg.
Threatening families
PST also confirms that Norwegian citizens with connections or origins in other countries have been exposed and threatened by intelligence organizations.
– We have several examples of Norwegian citizens with families in other countries threatened with reprisals, if they do not do what they are asked, says Blomberg.
Some of those who are threatened, deceived or who have tested the pressure themselves contact the PST directly and tell what they have been exposed to. Others are contacted by PST, who has discovered the relationship.
– PST is there to help Norwegian citizens. Those who are exposed to threats or recruitment attempts should contact us immediately, says Hanne Blomberg, head of the counterintelligence section of the Police Security Service.
