NEWS ANALYSIS: “Confidence in the US sinks just about every time Trump opens his mouth,” said former two-term Norwegian prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik on Wednesday. He was among many “upset and uneasy” in Norway after US President Donald Trump’s shocking sweep through Europe last week, which left “scars” another former foreign minister predicts will […]
Palace finally ready to improve security
May 24, 2018
Officials responsible for running Norway’s Royal Palace in Oslo are starting to improve security around the home and workplace of the monarch, seven years after terrorist attacks stunned the country on July 22, 2011. Construction of new fences and other barriers to better control vehicular traffic to the palace will begin this fall. Newspaper Aftenposten […]
Islamic extremists still biggest threat
January 30, 2018
Norway’s state police intelligence unit PST still ranks Islamist extremists as posing the biggest threat against security in the country. Russian intelligence, however, has the greatest damage potential, according to PST’s latest evaluation of the threats facing Norway in 2018. “People and groups inspired by extreme Islamist ideology will be the primary terror threat against […]
Authorities halted hack against NUPI
November 29, 2017
Norway’s foreign policy institute known as NUPI was the target of a hacking attempt this autumn that was halted by state authorities. The attack could have allowed the hackers to manipulate reports by NUPI’s researchers. NUPI (Norsk Utenrikspolitisk Institutt/Norwegian Institute of International Affairs) is one of Norway’s foremost research organizations that often advises government and […]
PST lowers Norway’s terror threat level
November 27, 2017
Norway’s state police intelligence unit PST (Politiets Sikkerhetstjeneste) thinks the risk of a terrorist attack in Norway has declined, and has thus lowered the national terror threat level. PST now thinks, as of last week, that a terrorist attack in Norway is “possible” instead of “probable.” At the same time, however, PST stresses that the […]
PST wants police to always be armed
November 8, 2017
UPDATED: Norway’s civilian police intelligence unit PST has, for the first time, gone public in recommending that Norwegian police be armed at all times. PST (Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste) thinks a state commission that advised against permanent arming last spring had an “imprecise” picture of today’s terror threats. Norway’s justice minister has now followed up by ordering […]
Oslo ‘vulnerable’ to vehicular terror
November 2, 2017
London’s anti-terror chief, Nick Aldworth, has warned that Oslo’s main “parade boulevard,” Karl Johans gate, is vulnerable to attacks carried out by vehicular terrorists driving cars and trucks. Top Oslo politicians claim more security measures to prevent such attacks are right around the corner. Aldworth, who has been serving as chief inspector of special operations […]
Election security may delay results
September 4, 2017
As Norwegian voters head into election booths to cast their ballots, state officials have already been working for months to ensure the highest possible security around their choices for Parliament. Some of the security measures now in place may cause some delays in election results early next week, but that’s a risk the officials are willing to take. “We’ll just have to […]
‘No increase’ in terror threat
August 21, 2017
Neither immigration nor the recent spate of terrorist attacks around Europe has raised the threat of an attack in Norway, claim both government and police officials. Calls are going out, though, for re-arming the police and more barriers on city streets, while plans for Norway’s new police preparedness center have finally been approved. Justice Minister Per-Willy […]
Norwegian officials following Swedes’ IT scandal closely
July 25, 2017
Norwegian security experts and government officials are concerned about a severe breach of computer security in Sweden that made it possible to spread sensitive, confidential information. Norway and Sweden have similar government systems, experts note, and both countries need to put much higher priority on the security of computer files. Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has now admitted that […]
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