Hedvig Moe was acting leader of Norway’s domestic intelligence agency PST until Beate Gangås took over full time in December. Now Moe is leaving PST (Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste) for a new job at a major Oslo law firm, with a few parting shots.
“I’ve been incredibly lucky to be able to work with the important things PST does for several years,” Moe said at a press briefing on Monday. She acknowledged, however, that she and Gangås had some challenges working together.
“Beate and I haven’t managed to establish the fellowship I think is important in order for us to lead PST together in a good manner,” Moe said. “We see things differently. That’s not optimal at the top of PST.”
Moe said she didn’t think there was any conflict between her and Gangås, “and I don’t think she thinks there’s one either.” Rather, she said, the situation made it clear to Moe “that I don’t think I’m the right deputy leader for PST moving forward.” There was no immediate comment from Gangås.
Moe was criticized last year, first after PST downgraded the terror threat in Norway just before the capital of Oslo was hit by a mass shooting on the eve of gay pride events last June. It also emerged that PST had been tipped by Norway’s defense intelligence agency E-tjenesten six days before the shooting with information about a possible terrorist attack in Sandinavia. PST never passed that on to either the police or the government ministry in charge of justice and preparedness. Moe said PST had no additional information to pass on regarding possible time, location or what might happen.
Moe denied that her resignation, effective from May 22, had anything to do with the mass shooting or the terror threat. “This isn’t about how I handled the attack last summer,” she said. “This is about the future, not the past.”
She’s already accepted a new job at Oslo law firm Thommessen that she’ll begin from May 23.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
