This article is machine translated by Google from Norwegian
Among the first political decisions Per Borten made when he was appointed prime minister in 1965 was to remove the head of the surveillance police, Asbjørn Bryhn. At the same time, he set up the so-called Mellbye committee, which was supposed to scrutinize the activities of the "surveillance service".
The background for the Prime Minister's actions was that he himself had experienced the surveillance police's methods as an EC opponent.
Blue. this is shown in the book Big brother sees you. A Mapping of surveillancethe police in Norway and NATO's secret coup plans (1973), which these days are published by Pax forlag. Authors are Orienterings employees John E. Andersson and Erling Borgen.
Parliamentary control, said Borten
Da Borten was appointed Prime Minister, he was interviewed by Orientering (No. 33 of 1965). One of the questions concerned the surveillance police, and Borten answered, among other things: "Parliamentary control must be established. You can't let it drift any longer." And in his first New Year's speech, the prime minister said: "We know that there are countries where the secret police have become an important tool in the internal power struggle".
"Borten single-handedly arranged for Asbjørn Bryhn to be fired and announced a public investigation into the circumstances."
In Storebror, you see comments on Borten's reactions like this:
“Borten had become angry. As an EEC skeptic, he himself had experienced the surveillance police's methods at close range. And all this came as a shock to him".
"Borten single-handedly arranged for Asbjørn Bryhn to be fired and announced a public investigation into the circumstances". But it is – according to the authors – not only Borten that is the subject of the hush-hush service's activities. According to the book, there are somewhere between 200-400 of Borten's compatriots who are in the archives at Victoria Terrasse.
In the archive section that the surveillance police themselves call the "Case Archive", there is, according to what "the authors have reason to believe", information on close to 10 women and men.
Then Arne Kielland suggested the figure 10 in the parliamentary debate on the surveillance police on 000 April 27, this was not refuted.
According to Storebror, the "case archive" is the special archive for those who oppose and disagree with Norwegian foreign policy – EEC opponents, conscientious objectors, etc.
Regarding this archive, the Mellbye committee's recommendation says: "Such an archive is necessary if the surveillance police are to be able to carry out their tasks. The task of monitoring activities that may threaten the state's security is a puzzle that makes it necessary to gather information from many different sources and over a long period of time. If the collected material is to be utilised, it must also be possible to register and archive it for later use".
NATO countries to compare ourselves with
Andersson/Borgen also deals with the so-called "Security Archive" where it is suggested that the number "archived" to be somewhere between 2-400. In the book it is said: "In Denmark, a NATO country it is obvious to compare us with, the Minister of Justice has admitted that this archive contains information about a six-figure number of people. And in 000, Danish newspapers suggested that the figure was close to 1964".
Their names, political sympathies, family relationships etc. are recorded in the archives at Victoria Terrace.
In this archive, there is mainly information about people who process security-graded documents – e.g. defense and foreign policy plans. Here there is information about family relationships, organizational relationships, finances, illnesses and more.
The book's commentary: "So: Hundreds of thousands of Norwegian citizens are registered by the surveillance police in Norway. They have their names, political sympathies, family relationships, etc. recorded in the archives of Victoria Terrace – for use in the event of an emergency".
The authors write that this in itself is frightening enough. It gets even worse "when the surveillance police's archives are apparently made available to NATO. Information that has reached the authors suggests that this military alliance gets the information they want from Victoria Terrasse".
We think it is reasonable that all the cards are put on the table in this regard – and ask with Andersson/Borgen: "If this is correct, who is it that behind the backs of the Norwegian people has given such powers, allowed this"?
Asbjørn Bryhn – the surveillance chief who feared EC opponents: "We need the public's assistance in the great battle for human minds that is raging around us today. Goebbels' methods become primitive dilettantism compared to the subtle games of the Eastern Bloc countries today. This is war. The most hideous form of war. It applies not only to your life, but also to your soul. We are currently exposed to a violent charm offensive on all fronts of social life. It has only one goal, to break down our resistance, destroy our will to defend ourselves. Therefore, it is for them to make contacts in all areas, seek corporate connections everywhere, talk their way into us, so that we slowly and surely impose views that are contrary to our interests – for example, getting people to protest against the common market , which really only the countries of the Eastern Bloc have something to fear." Asbjørn Bryhn in an interview with VG, 1963.
