Finnish Security and Intelligence Service
Suojelupoliisi ( State Police | |
Jurisdiction | Finland |
---|---|
Headquarters | Katajanokanlaituri 3, Helsinki |
Employees | 505 (2020)[1] |
Annual budget | €53.9 million (2023) |
Minister responsible | |
Agency executive |
|
Parent department | Ministry of the Interior |
Website | supo |
The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (
History
During the Cold War
The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (Supo) was established on 17 December 1948 upon ratification of the Act and the Decree on the Security Police and became operational at the start of 1949.[4] Supo was formed to replace its predecessor, the State Police (Valtiollinen poliisi, Valpo),[5] after communists suffered a defeat in the July 1948 parliamentary elections and the reorganization of Valpo was recommended by a governmental committee in October 1948. In essence, Valpo was abolished by the Parliament of Finland due to the fact that its leadership positions had been filled by communists who were implicated in erroneous and illegal elements according to a separate governmental committee investigation as well as linked to a number of disappearances in the aftermath of World War II.[6][7][8][9]
In general, Finland is described as having been in a strategic and neutral position between the
When
Kekkonen kept KGB connections close, especially its local Helsinki chief, and utilized back channels to balance between Western and Soviet interests without provocation, such as during the negotiations on Finland's membership to the European Free Trade Association in 1962. Similarly, he shifted Supo's counter-intelligence activities to quiet and preventive action. For example, espionage cases were sometimes not submitted to court and KGB diplomats were not declared persona non grata, but instead were quietly asked to leave. When KGB major Anatoliy Golitsyn defected to the United States from Helsinki in December 1961, he divulged his knowledge and opinions on KGB networks and interaction in Finland to the CIA. For example, he described President Kekkonen as being "in Soviet service" – Kekkonen was relieved when the CIA and Western intelligence took the claim with reservations. Nevertheless, the revelations prompted Western intelligence to have a more constructive and positive attitude towards Finland and the CIA shared Golitsyn's list of KGB intelligence officers to Supo for monitoring.[5][7][13][15]
Systematic surveillance of communists was shut down in the early 1980s by President
After the Cold War
The Service made a legislative initiative in 2012 to criminalize the espionage of exiles in Finland. As of April 2019, espionage of exiles was forbidden e.g. in Sweden, but not in Finland.
Function and organization
Function
The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service states that its core functions are
Organization
Supo is a national police unit subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior. It follows a Nordic tradition where the intelligence agency is governed as a part of police organisations (i.e. in the form of a security police) instead of being a separate organisation.[5] The Service formerly used the English title Finnish Security Police; the word "police" was amended in 2010 to emphasize the agency's role in security intelligence.[31] In 2019, the Service had 440 employees, of whom 56% were police officers and 40% women, and a total budget of 50.9 million euros.[33] In addition to its headquarters in Punavuori, Helsinki, Supo hosts eight regional offices around Finland in Turku, Tampere, Vaasa, Lappeenranta, Joensuu, Kuopio, Oulu and Rovaniemi.[34][28] Supo has liaison officers posted at diplomatic missions in Nairobi, Kenya and Ankara, Turkey as well as at the European Union (EU) Intelligence and Situation Centre.[35] The Service is divided into seven different departments as of a 2017 reorganization:[31]
- Collection
- Counter-Intelligence
- Terrorism and Extremism
- Regions
- Vetting
- Intelligence Analysis
- Internal Services
See also
- Cold War II
- European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats
- Finnish Defence Intelligence Agency
- Finnish Intelligence Division
- Law enforcement in Finland
- National Bureau of Investigation (Finland)
- Police of Finland
Notes and references
Notes
The source Ratakatu 12: Suojelupoliisi 1949-2009 was "commissioned by Supo, but it was mainly written by professional historians".[36] The book is considered the most definite source and the official history of Supo, but it has been criticized by diplomat Alpo Rusi and reporter Jarko Tirkkonen for not discussing certain parts of the Service's history. On the other hand, politician Erkki Tuomioja praised the book of its high quality.[37] Tirronen and Tuomioja attribute two-thirds of the book to political history professor Kimmo Rentola—who worked for Supo as a historian while writing the book.[12][11] Rentola has written that caution and source criticism are required when researching histories of security agencies due to the ambiguous and often lacking material.[14]
References
- ^ "Supo vuosikirja 2020" (PDF). Retrieved 7 January 2024.
- Supo. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
- ^ Pietiläinen, Tuomo (6 March 2018). "Supo on saamassa lisää rahaa, tehtäviä ja siviiliväkeä – Näin salainen poliisi paisuu, jos tiedustelulait hyväksytään". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 17 December 2023.
Nykyään Supo on englanniksi Finnish Security Intelligence Service ... Olemmeko tulevaisuudessa sitten Finnish Security AND Intelligence Service, niin se voisi olla loogista
- ^ Laki suojelupoliisista 17.12.1948/878 ja asetus suojelupoliisista 17.12.1948/879. [Act on the Security Police 17.12.1948/878 and Decree on the Security Police 17.12.1948/879]. (In Finnish).
- ^ a b c d e f "Supo - History". www.supo.fi. Archived from the original on 18 June 2017. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ Wuorinen, John (1948). Finland and World War II, 1939-1944. New York: Roland Press. p. 22.
- ^ a b c d e Simola, Matti, ed. (2010). Ratakatu 12: Suojelupoliisi 1949-2009 [Ratakatu 12: Security Police 1949-2009] (in Finnish). Helsinki: WSOY.
- ^ Vertanen, Anu (2005). Rintamalta Ratakadulle : suomalaiset SS-miehet kommunistisen Valpon kohteina 1945-1948 [From the Front to Ratakatu : Finnish SS troops as targets for the communist State Police 1945-1948] (in Finnish). Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä. Archived from the original on 2 March 2018.
- ^ a b "Supon lyhyt historia: Kommunistien tarkkailusta kettutyttöihin" [Short history of Supo: From communist monitoring to fur activists]. Ylioppilaslehti (in Finnish). 1 April 1999. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
- ^ "Finland and American intelligence - Secret history: How close were Finnish-American relations in the Cold War". The Economist. 1 December 2011. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
- ^ a b c Tirkkonen, Jarko (2010). "Toimivaa ja rajattua salaista historiaa" [Functioning and limited secret history]. Tieteessä Tapahtuu (in Finnish) (2): 46–48. Archived from the original on 2 March 2018.
- ^ a b c Tuomioja, Erkki (8 September 2009). "Salaisen palvelun tutkimuksen haasteet" [Challenges in secret service research]. Tuomioja.org (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
- ^ ISBN 978-952-10-4637-7. Archivedfrom the original on 5 March 2016.
- ^ a b Kimmo, Rentola (2009). "Tiedustelun historian ongelmia" [Problems of intelligence history]. Tieteessä Tapahtuu (in Finnish). 27 (7): 3–6. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017.
- ^ "Supolla yhteistyötä sekä länteen että itään" [Security Police had cooperation with both West and East]. MTV3 (in Finnish). 27 August 2009. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
- ^ "Tiitinen says he has no recollection of names on Stasi list". www.helsinkitimes.fi. 12 May 2010. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "Supo Determined to Keep Tiitinen List Classified". Yle Uutiset. 15 July 2008. Archived from the original on 22 October 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
- ^ "Valtiot vakoilevat omia kansalaisiaan Suomessa, viranomaisten painostus on ankaraa – "Lähetä kuva kotitalostasi ja puhelimen imei-koodi"". MTV Uutiset (in Finnish). 29 April 2019.
- ^ "Suojelupoliisi siirtyy suoraan sisäministeriön alaisuuteen ensi vuonna" [Finnish Security Intelligence Service will transfer directly under the Interior Ministry next year]. Yle Uutiset (in Finnish). 9 July 2015. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "Government advances plan to move Supo to Interior Ministry". Yle Uutiset. 31 December 2014. Archived from the original on 19 August 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ Teivainen, Aleksi (3 November 2016). "Supo: Properties in foreign ownership may be used to house unmarked military troops". Helsinki Times. Archived from the original on 22 October 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "Tabloid: Supo suspects Russia of buying up Finnish property for military personnel". Yle Uutiset. 1 November 2016. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "New law in works to help Finland track land purchases by foreigners". Yle Uutiset. 20 October 2017. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "Suojelupoliisi: Suomessa epäillään ensimmäistä kertaa terroritekoa – uhka-arvio säilyy ennallaan" [Finnish Security Intelligence Service: The first suspected terrorist attack in Finland – threat assessment remains unchanged]. Yle Uutiset (in Finnish). 19 August 2017. Archived from the original on 19 August 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "Threat assessment unchanged for the time being". Finnish Security Intelligence Service. 19 August 2017. Archived from the original on 2 March 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "Supo - Frontpage". www.supo.fi. Archived from the original on 19 June 2017. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ a b c "Agencies and responsibilities". Ministry of Interior (Finland). Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ Global National Security and Intelligence Agencies Handbook. Washington DC: International Publisher Publications. 2005. pp. 71–72.
- ISBN 9781317471776.
- ^ a b c "Supo - About Supo". www.supo.fi. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ "Police Act 872/2011". www.finlex.fi. Archived from the original on 22 October 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ Finnish Security Intelligence Service Yearbook 2016 (PDF). Helsinki: Finnish Security Intelligence Service. 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 June 2017.
- ^ "Supo - Contact". www.supo.fi. Archived from the original on 19 June 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "Supo - Internationality". www.supo.fi. Archived from the original on 18 June 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
- S2CID 143486581.
- ^ Rusi, Alpo (18 August 2009). "Tarpeeton salailu estää Supon historian tutkimista" [Unnecessary secrecy prevents research on Supo history]. ts.fi (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
Further reading
- de Graaff, Bob; Nyce, James M. (2016). Handbook of European Intelligence Culture. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
- Duyvesteyn, Isabelle; de Jong, Ben; van Reijn, Joop, eds. (2014). The Future of Intelligence: Challenges in the 21st Century. London and New York: Routledge.
- Holmström, Lauri (2013). "Intelligence Culture, Economic Espionage and the Finnish Security Intelligence Service". In Davies, Philip; Gustafson, Kristian (eds.). Intelligence Elsewhere: Spies and Espionage Outside the Anglosphere. Georgetown University Press.