Counter intelligence entails activity carried out with the objective of preventing and combating illegal intelligence activity aimed at Norway. Illegal intelligence activity is any activity which aims to obtain information about the political, military, technological or other sector of importance to society, and which can harm the country’s security, interests and independence.
What is illegal intelligence activity?
Intelligence activity entails collecting information which the collector regards as relevant. Intelligence activity is in principle lawful as long at it entails collecting information from publicly available sources, e.g. the mass media, public documents and records, etc. If the collector believes that publicly available information is not publicly available, the collection activity can, however, be regarded as an offence.
Industrial espionage carried out by another state with the help of that state’s intelligence agencies is also regarded as illegal intelligence activity. Other branches of the police deal with industrial espionage carried out by one competing business against another for commercial purposes.
Illegal intelligence gathering also includes refugee-related espionage. Refugee-related espionage encompasses intelligence gathering by another country directed at foreigners in Norway. The goal of this type of activity is to undermine, neutralise or eliminate political opposition by monitoring, investigating and threatening opposition figures in exile. Norway has seen various cases of refugee-related espionage through the years.