In Norway

Co-operation with the rest of the police
PST is under the direct authority of the Ministry of Justice and is part of the Norwegian Police Service. The National Police Directorate (Norwegian abbreviation: POD) is at the same organisational level as PST, and the police districts and specialist bodies are under the authority of POD. (In PST cases, the police districts outside Oslo are under the authority of the Director General of The Norwegian Police Security Service.) POD is therefore a natural and important partner for PST.
 
The Norwegian Police Security Service Headquarters enjoys an especially close co-operation with Oslo Police District. One of the reasons for this is that PST Headquarters carries out all of PST functions in this district.

 

Certain types of crime are of such a nature that they come within both PST’s and specialist police agencies’ remit. In addition to close co-operation with the National Police Directorate at a high level, we also work in collaboration with the National Criminal Investigation Service (Norwegian abbreviation: Kripos), The Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Norwegian abbreviation: Økokrim) and the National Police Immigration Service (Norwegian abbreviation: PU).

 

For example, elements of international organised crime, for which Kripos has responsibility may have aspects that fall within PST’s prevention or investigative remit. It is known that groups that can be linked to terrorist activity are also involved in organised crime, such as drugs and people smuggling. Similarly, illegal activity that would normally fall within Økokrim's remit can also be connected to individuals or groups that fall within PST’s areas of responsibility. This could, for example, include financing of terrorist activity. 

 

In some cases PST has in principle responsibility for covert investigation only, while the rest of the police takes charge of other aspects by overt investigation (interviewing suspects, arrest, search and seizure). Cases to which this applies include those that are terrorism related. 

Besides, it is the responsibility of the rest of the police to take decisive action against terrorist groups (anti-terrorism preparedness, especially through Oslo Police District's Emergency Preparedness Force and response units in the police districts).
 
Co-operation with the Armed Forces
The Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) is one of PST's most important partners outside the justice sector. We enjoy close co-operation with the Intelligence Service, at various levels and in several areas of expertise. With a complex and cross-border threat picture, this co-operation is very critical to our ability to prevent serious crime and to delivering high quality products. 

 

PST also co-operates with The Armed Forces' Security Section (Norwegian abbreviation: FSA) and the Armed Forces Joint Headquarters (Norwegian abbreviation: FOHK).  In addition, the PST units of the local police districts are in various forms of co-operation with the Armed Forces at a regional level. 
 
The Norwegian National Security Authority (NSM)
The National Security Authority (Norwegian abbreviation: NSM) is one of PST's important partners in several areas. The co-operation is especially close in connection with vetting of individuals, but also relates to security issues generally.
 
Other Norwegian partnerships
Working in partnership with other government services varies both in character and intensity and includes strategic issues, operational co-operation, providing advice and co-operation in terms of measures to be implemented. Therefore, a number of partnerships have been developed in both the public and private sectors.
 
Within the public sector, PST works in partnership with several government departments and the services that report to them. Among the principal partners are the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Directorate for Civil Protection and Emergency Planning (DSB), Norwegian Customs and Excise (TAD) and the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI). PST also has contacts with several research institutions regarding expertise.
 
Counter-terrorism contact group
In 2005, the Government established a counter-terrorism contact group. The contact group is led by PST and consists of both public and private sector representatives, who through a wide-ranging partnership seeks to contribute to the suppression of terrorism. The Ministry of Justice has published on its website further information regarding the contact group. (The information about the contact group is available only in Norwegian.)
 
Co-ordinating and Advisory Committee for the Intelligence, Surveillance and Security Service (KRU)
In order to ensure co-ordination of the work of the secret services and between the services and the Government, a special body has been established: the Co-ordinating and Advisory Committee for the Intelligence, Surveillance and Security Service (in Norwegian frequently referred to by the abbreviation KRU).

 

The Committee consists of six members, and is constituted as follows:

In 2002 the Government established a permanent secretariat for the Committee. By strengthening the secretariat function, the Government hoped to increase the co-operation between the three services.