Swedish Security Service

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Swedish Security Service
Säkerhetspolisen (SÄPO)
Director-General
Parent agencyMinistry of Justice
Websitewww.sakerhetspolisen.se

The Swedish Security Service (

telephone tapping, covert listening devices, and hidden surveillance cameras.[7][8]

The Service was, in its present form, founded in 1989, as part of the

Solna since 2014, drawing together personnel from five different locations into a single 30,000 m2 (320,000 sq ft) HQ facility.[12][13]

History

Lt Col Adlercreutz, credited with the formation of the General Security Service in 1938

The origins of the Swedish Security Service is often linked to the establishment of a special police bureau (Polisbyrån) during the

Nazis.[17]

In 1932, operations were transferred to the newly formed State Police (statspolisen).

National Police Board in the Department of Security (Rikspolisstyrelsens säkerhetsavdelning, abbreviated RPS/SÄK).[21][22]

Stig Wennerström, convicted Soviet spy, c. 1960

The period between 1939 and 1945 was marked by extensive foreign intelligence activity in Sweden, resulting in the arrest of numerous spies and enemy agents. Some of the most notorious post-war spies are

Stig Wennerström and Stig Bergling. In all of these cases the spying was done on behalf of the Soviet Union and the spies were convicted to life in prison.[14]

In the early 1970s, Sweden was rocked by a number of terrorist acts perpetrated by Croatian separatists. Some of the most significant cases were the 1971 Yugoslavian embassy attack in Stockholm and the hijacking of Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 130 a year later.[23] The inception of the first Terrorist Act in 1973 was an immediate policy upshot of this, which among other things gave the police the right to deport people affiliated with terrorist organizations without delay. These incidents also led to internal changes within the Department of Security, which received more resources.[24][25] On 28 February 1986, Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated by an unknown gunman. The Department was not widely criticized, partly because Palme himself had declined protection on the night of the murder.[26] It nevertheless sparked the resignation of the National Police Commissioner Nils Erik Åhmansson and the head of the Department, Sune Sandström, following the revelation of the Ebbe Carlsson affair in 1988.[27]

The Swedish Security Service was established on 1 October 1989, on the recommendations put forward by a Government committee tasked with evaluating the Department of Security following the assassination of Palme.[28] The new agency was—although still formally a part of the National Police Board—more independent, with its own Director-General and political oversight also increased.[29][30][31] Furthermore, the Service took over the formal responsibility for all close protection tasks, which was previously shared with the National Police Board and the Stockholm County Police.[30][32] On 10 September 2003, Minister for Foreign Affairs Anna Lindh was assassinated by Mijailo Mijailović, who was arrested two weeks later. The Government reviewed its procedures in the wake of the Lindh killing,[33] which led to the doubling of the number of close-protection officers.[34] On 1 January 2015, the police reorganized again into a unified agency, with the Swedish Security Service becoming a fully independent agency.[35]

Areas of responsibility

Spending 2014[36]

  Dignitary protection (44%)
  Counter-terrorism (30%)
  Counter-espionage (12%)
  Counter-subversion (10%)
  Protective security (4%)

The Swedish Security Service's main tasks and responsibilities are:[6][14]

Organisation

The Swedish Security Service became a separate agency 1 January 2015, and is directly organized under the Ministry of Justice. Similar to other government agencies in Sweden, it is essentially autonomous. Under the

1974 Instrument of Government, neither the Government nor individual ministers have the right to influence how an agency decide in a particular case or on the application of legislation. This also applies to the Security Service, which instead is governed by general policy instruments.[38][a] What sets the Security Service apart from other agencies is that most directives guiding the Service are classified on the grounds of national security, along with the bulk of the reports it produces.[29] The Service is led by a Director-General, who is titled Head of the Swedish Security Service. Operations are led by a Chief Operating Officer, reporting directly the Head of the Security Service. He is in turn assisted by a Deputy Chief Operating Officer and an Office for Operations. The Service is organized into four departments and a secretariat, each led by a Head of Department.[39]

Swedish Security Service organisational chart[b]
Director-General & Deputy Director
Financial Management
Human Resources
Internal Security & Risk Management
Secretariat for Management SupportStrategic Management Support
Public Affairs & Communications
Legal Affairs
Operational Control
Chief Operating Officer & Deputy Chief Operating OfficerDepartment of Intelligence CollectionDepartment of Security IntelligenceDepartment of Security MeasuresDepartment for Central Support Functions
Office for OperationsCoordinationDeskInformation SecurityProcurement
Counter-espionageHUMINT*ProcessingRisk ReductionFacilities & Services
Counter-terrorismSurveillanceAnalysisInvestigationTechnical Support
Counter-subversionTechnical IntelligenceClose Protection
SecurityProject Teams

*Includes regional units

Magdalena Andersson
in 2014.
Department for Central Support Functions
Provides all support processes needed for day-to-day operations.[39]
Department of Intelligence Collection
In charge of intelligence gathering through the use of secret surveillance, informants or other interpersonal contacts, and by use of information technology (e.g. signals intelligence). Included in the department are the regional units, which primarily conduct human intelligence (HUMINT) operations and offer local knowledge and support to HQ.[39]
Department of Security Intelligence
Responsible for security intelligence work, primarily aimed at providing the Service with data for decisions regarding security measures.[39]
Department of Security Measures
Deals with threat mitigation and risk reduction measures. Areas of responsibility include close protection, investigations, information security, physical security and background checks.[39]
Secretariat for Management Support
Tasked with providing support to management.[39]

Offices

The Service has a regional presence and operates from several locations; from its headquarters in Solna and from six regional units with offices in Umeå, Uppsala, Örebro, Norrköping, Gothenburg and Malmö. The Service has approximately 1,100 employees, of which about 10 percent are stationed at the regional offices. The regional units are based on the geographic boundaries of several counties:[40][41]

   Central – Uppsala, Västmanland and Gävleborg
   Bergslagen – Värmland, Örebro and Dalarna
   West – Halland and Västra Götaland
   South – Kronoberg, Kalmar, Blekinge and Skåne
   Stockholm – Stockholm and Gotland

Head of the Swedish Security Service

List of current and past executive officers:[42]

In popular culture

The Security Service's role in

Millennium series by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson.[citation needed
]

"Swedish intelligence" was frequently referenced on the American Cold War spy drama television show The Americans. The male lead character on the show, Philip Jennings, had an alias who worked for Swedish intelligence.[43]

See also

Notes

  1. Ministerstyre and the official translation of the constitution at the Riksdag website: 1974 Instrument of Government
    , Chapter 12, Art. 2
  2. ^ Based on an organisational chart and translation published by SÄPO in 2015

References

  1. ^ The name translates literally to The security-police

Citations

  1. ^ Swedish Security Service 2020, p. 68.
  2. ^ "Regleringsbrev för budgetåret 2019 avseende Säkerhetspolisen" [Regulation letter for fiscal year 2019 regarding the Swedish Security Service]. Swedish Financial Management Authority. 20 December 2018.
  3. ^ Rikets säkerhet och den personliga integriteten. De svenska säkerhetstjänsternas författningsskyddade verksamhet sedan år 1945. (SOU 2002:87), p. 15.
  4. ^ Swedish Security Service 2013, p. 8.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Swedish Security Service 2015, 'Yearbook', p. 9.
  6. ^ a b SFS 1984:387, § 3.
  7. ^ SOU 2012:44, pp. 114, 118–123.
  8. ^ 2014/15:JuU2.
  9. ^ Swedish Security Service 2015, 'History'.
  10. ^ 2013/14:JuU1.
  11. ^ "Kontakta oss - Säkerhetspolisen". Sakerhetspolisen.se. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  12. ^ Törnmalm 2010.
  13. ^ Skanska 2015.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Nationalencyklopedin 1989.
  15. ^ a b Swedish Security Service 2014, pp. 7, 9.
  16. ^ Swedish Security Service 2014, pp. 7, 10, 15.
  17. ^ Swedish Security Service 2014, pp. 9–12.
  18. ^ Swedish Security Service 2014, pp. 15–16.
  19. ^ Swedish Security Service 2014, pp. 16–18.
  20. ^ Swedish Security Service 2014, pp. 7, 19.
  21. ^ Swedish Security Service 2014, p. 5.
  22. ^ Grahn 2013.
  23. ^ Forsberg 2003, Bilaga 1.
  24. ^ Swedish Security Service 2014, pp. 5, 35, 40.
  25. ^ Hansén 2007, pp. 47–48, 175, 178.
  26. ^ Hansén 2007, p. 163.
  27. ^ Isaksson 2007.
  28. ^ Forsberg 2003, p. 18.
  29. ^ a b Swedish Security Service 2013, p. 12.
  30. ^ a b Swedish Security Service 2014, p. 47.
  31. ^ Hansén 2007, pp. 89–90, 178.
  32. ^ Hansén 2007, p. 87.
  33. ^ SOU 2004:108.
  34. ^ Swedish Security Service 2015, 'Livvakter'.
  35. ^ Swedish Ministry of Justice 2015.
  36. ^ Swedish Security Service 2015, 'Yearbook', p. 10.
  37. ^ SFS 2014:1103, § 4.
  38. ^ Beckman, Olsson & Wockelberg 2003, pp. 19–20.
  39. ^ a b c d e f Swedish Security Service 2015, 'Organisation'.
  40. ^ Swedish Security Service 2015, 'Yearbook'.
  41. ^ Swedish Security Service 2015, 'Regional Units'.
  42. ^ Swedish Security Service 2014.
  43. ^ Zuckerman, Esther (1 May 2014). "'The Americans' Wig of the Week: Elizabeth's Blonde Tresses". The Atlantic. Retrieved 9 February 2022.

Bibliography

External links