Extreme Islamists represents the most serious threat to Norway, says PST chief Benedicte Bjørnland. She believes development is worrisome.
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It is likely that Norway will be the victim of a terrorist act or attempt this during 2015 believes Police Security Service (PST), which published its annual open assessment of the threat Wednesday. A potential terrorist threat relates primarily to individuals who are able to act on their own or in small groups, their assessment
– There is an extreme Islamist environment that poses the clearest threat of terrorism. So we are not naive that it can happen events from the extreme right environment, says Bjørnland said.
glorifies violence
PST is especially concerned about extreme Islamists for several reasons. Bjørnland refers to recruitment to voldsforherligende groups, especially in the central eastern Norway.
– But it is not a oslo problem or a challenge reserved for the big cities, says PST boss.
She notes that not only Muslim – but also ethnic Norwegian – youngsters become radicalized.
The problem with returnees foreign fighters will persist, she points out. In addition there is the danger of attacks carried out by sympathizers of various Islamist groups.
Justice and Public Security Minister Anders Anundsen (FRP) are also concerned by the challenge solo terrorists poses.
– More attacks than before now performed with simpler means and relatively little time for preparation. That will reduce the risk of discovery, he says to NTB.
Russian espionage
For the first time also warns about the danger of PST espionage from two specific countries, namely China and Russia. Authorities ask companies and research institutions to be careful.
– We do not work prohibition against people from other countries. But we would advise that one should be aware of which countries they employ from and where in the enterprise you let the person come in, says PST boss.
Russia is particularly interested in defense technology, security and emergency preparedness, as well as delivery capacity in the energy industry, she said.
Bjørnland mentions besides Iran as a country we should be aware of, especially when it comes to knowledge that can be used to produce nuclear weapons.
Both Russia and China react to the accusations. The Russian embassy writes NRK that it is “becoming very popular to accuse Russia of all deadly sins.”
– We were shocked by these irresponsible remarks which shows a strong cold war mentality, writes the Chinese embassy.
Prevention
Although it signed a serious image in PST threat assessment for 2015, says Bjørnland that it is important not to be intimidated. She points out that it made a lot of work to prevent radicalization, but admits that there are no simple solutions.
PST has requested the opportunity to so-called data readout. It will give the service an opportunity to crack encrypted data calls.
– We see that the people we are most concerned within violent extremism, are very safety conscious. They use krypteringsprogrammmer when they communicate. When we have a concrete suspicion we should have the opportunity to read the data, she says.
Privacy
The Minister of Justice says the proposal to be considered.
– We must also remember that we must not create methods from the current situation. We must also protect the privacy, he said.
Anundsen says security services’ efforts to prevent is important in the fight against possible terrorist attacks against Norwegian interests. He also refers to the government introduced several measures when PST gave notice of increased terror risk in November, including arming of police.
In addition, a proposal to criminalize participation in illegal armed conflict abroad, to recruit warriors and add enabling them to travel, out for consultation. Parliament will have the case in September, according Anundsen. (© NTB)
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