The Norwegian Defence Security Department (NORDSD) (in

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

: Forsvarets sikkerhetsavdeling, acronym: FSA) is a joint

security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...

and

counter-intelligence Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

service within the

Norwegian Armed Forces The Norwegian Armed Forces ( no, Forsvaret, , The Defence) is the military organization responsible for the defence of Norway. It consists of five branches, the Norwegian Army, the Royal Norwegian Navy, which includes the Coast Guard, the Royal ...

. Its members are a mix of civilian employees and

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

personnel. The head of the service holds the military rank

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

or (naval) captain.

Role and responsibility

NORDSD's primary responsibility is protective security and operative security services within the Armed Forces, including responsibilities related to the Norwegian Armed Forces security

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can be des ...

. NORDSD shall, on behalf of the Chief of Defence, Norwegian Armed Forces (CHODNOR):CHODNOR Security Directive (text in Norwegian)
/ref>CO NORDSD Directive (text in Norwegian)
/ref> *Counteract security threats, and threats associated with

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

and

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

acts that may affect military activities and/or national security. *Conduct

background check A background check is a process a person or company uses to verify that an individual is who they claim to be, and this provides an opportunity to check and confirm the validity of someone's criminal record, education, employment history, and oth ...

s, (the

vetting Vetting is the process of performing a background check on someone before offering them employment, conferring an award, or doing fact-checking prior to making any decision. In addition, in intelligence gathering, assets are vetted to determine th ...

process) to determine if

security clearance A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information (state or organizational secrets) or to restricted areas, after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is ...

can be given to military personnel who apply for access to

classified information Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to kn ...

. *Act as the Designated Security Authority in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

for the "request for visit" system, by controlling both visits of foreign nationals to the Norwegian Armed Forces or Norwegian defence industry, and issue Norwegian citizens with a certificate of security clearance when visiting other nations where valid security clearance is required. *Liaise with the

Norwegian Police Security Service The Norwegian Police Security Service (, ) is the police security agency of Norway. The agency was previously known as ''POT'' (' or Police Surveillance Agency), the name change was decided by the Parliament of Norway on 2 June 2001. History a ...

in cases that involve the Armed Forces. NORDSD does this by collecting and assessing information regarding security risks and weaknesses within the Norwegian Armed Forces, to analyze and recommend which counter-measures must be taken. NORDSD is the largest security clearance (vetting) authority in Norway and handles approximately 20,000 security clearance cases annually.

Rule of law and legal mandate

Within any democratic and transparent nation, the rule of law and

Rechtsstaat ''Rechtsstaat'' (lit. "state of law"; "legal state") is a doctrine in continental European legal thinking, originating in Dutch and German jurisprudence. It can be translated into English as "rule of law", alternatively "legal state", state of ...

principle of regulating

executive powers The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state. In political systems b ...

is fundamental. The Norwegian

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

, Article 99, forbids the use of military personnel and powers against the citizens unless warranted by act of parliament or insurrection. Article 110c forbids any executive action that is a violation of human rights. Only the

(PST), the

Norwegian Intelligence Service The Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) or Etterretningstjenesten (E-tjenesten) is a Norwegian military intelligence agency under the Chief of Defence and the Ministry of Defence. History Olav Njølstad says that the "stay-behind cooperation ...

(ETJ) and the Norwegian

National Security Authority The National Security Authority (NSM) ( no, Nasjonal sikkerhetsmyndighet) is a Norwegian security agency (''Direktorat'') established on 1 January 2003 as the successor to Forsvarets sikkerhetsstab (FO/S). It is responsible for preventive nation ...

(NSM) are defined as "secret services" and given special executive authority by separate acts of parliament. Since no special executive authority is given, the rule of law principle strongly limits NORDSD to only operate within the Armed Forces. Therefore, all actions or counter-measures must have a legal basis in: # The general provisions of the Protective Security Act, The Defence Secrets Act, The Military Criminal Justice Act and the Military Police powers act. #

Common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...

Chain of command A command hierarchy is a group of people who carry out orders based on others' authority within the group. It can be viewed as part of a power structure, in which it is usually seen as the most vulnerable and also the most powerful part. Milit ...

authority within the Norwegian Armed Forces # International treaties/agreements concerning military security regulation through Norway's membership of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Oversight

As a result of lessons learned by the surveillance scandals after the end of the Cold War, several fail-safe mechanisms are in place to prevent future breaches of human rights and illegal surveillance. NORDSD is under the direct oversight of the legislative and executive branches in Norway. The

legislative branch A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

exercises its control through the Norwegian Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee, (EOS-committee), which is an independent watch-dog that has monitored NORDSD activities since 2003. The service was elevated to be one of the 'main inspection objects' (the Norwegian secret services are the others), in 2009. In all of the EOS committee's annual reports to the Stortinget (the Norwegian Parliament), all deviation from what the committee deems to be good standards has, with the rule of law or

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

, been exposed and correctly criticized. These reports are available to the public on the EOS-committee website. The executive branch exercises its control through different means: *By controlling measures pursuant to the Protective Security Act in the Armed Forces, also in matters of personnel security to ensure uniform interpretation of the Act. NORDSD is under the supervisory authority of the Norwegian

. *Political control which is exercised through civilian control of the military through the Minister of Defence, and the principle of accountability in the

Parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of th ...

. *The

chain of command A command hierarchy is a group of people who carry out orders based on others' authority within the group. It can be viewed as part of a power structure, in which it is usually seen as the most vulnerable and also the most powerful part. Milit ...

which is exercised through the CHODNOR, his Chief-of-staff and the CHODNOR auditory unit, and is responsible to regularly brief the Minister of Defence on NORDSD activities. *The

judicial branch The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

exercises indirect control of NORDSD in these cases' legal actionsCriminal Procedure Act
/ref> brought against persons by the service or if a corporate charge is brought against NORDSD or its personnel.

Insignia

NORDSD insignia is constructed in accordance with

and continental

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known bran ...

rules and

tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

; it was approved by the Chief of Defence, Norwegian Armed Forces (CHODNOR) in 2003. The insignia symbolism is as follows: # The crown is, in Norway, the symbol of the sovereign and the

of the state. # The basis livery colour is green. This stems from

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

when the exiled Norwegian Armed Forces in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

adopted the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

's patterns to indicate

rank Rank is the relative position, value, worth, complexity, power, importance, authority, level, etc. of a person or object within a ranking, such as: Level or position in a hierarchical organization * Academic rank * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy * ...

and

service branch Military branch (also service branch or armed service) is according to common standard a subdivision of the national armed forces of a sovereign nation or state. Types of branches Unified armed forces The Canadian Armed Forces is the unifi ...

. Green was the service branch colour for the

and

service (this is seen today in the UK's army Intelligence Corps beret and stable belt colour which is cypress

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

). # The

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

key represents access to

knowledge Knowledge can be defined as Descriptive knowledge, awareness of facts or as Procedural knowledge, practical skills, and may also refer to Knowledge by acquaintance, familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called pro ...

that is the sovereign

property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...

and must be protected. # The lion figure is based on the

Coat of arms of Norway The coat of arms of Norway is the arms of dominion of king Harald V of Norway, and as such represents both the monarch and the kingdom (nation and the state). It depicts a standing golden lion on a red background, bearing a golden crown and ax ...

. It represents strength and determination to protect and guard the nation and its firm hold on the key, affirms the loyalty to protect the sovereign property. Since NORDSD is not a part of the

Norwegian Army The Norwegian Army ( no, Hæren) is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway ...

lifeguard division ((this role is filled by His Majesty the King's Guards (HMKG) and the

Military Academy A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

(KS) - Linderud)), the standard gold colour is used.

References

{{authority control Military of Norway Norwegian intelligence agencies Government of Norway Counterintelligence agencies Military intelligence agencies