Table Of ContentCASS SERIKS: STUDIES IN INTELLIGENCE
ISSN: 1368-9916
(Series Editors: Christopher Andrew, Michael I. Handel,Wesley K. Wark and Richard J. Aldrich)
THE NORWEGIAN
INTELLIGENCE SERVICE
1945-1970
Also in the Studies in Intelligence series
British Military Intelligence in the Palestine Campaign 1914-1918 by Yigal Sheffy
British Military Intelligence in the Crimean War; 1854-1856 by Stephen M. Harris
Signals Intelligence in World War II edited by David Alvarez
Knowing Your Friends: Intelligence Inside Alliances and Coalitions from 1914 to the
Cold War edited by Martin S. Alexander
Eternal Vigilance? 50 Years of the CIA edited by Rhodri Jeffrevs-Jones and
Christopher Andrew
Nothing Sacred: Nazi Espionage Against the Vatican, 1939-1945 by David Alvarez
and Revd. Robert A. Graham
Intelligence Investigations: How Ultra Changed History by Ralph Bennett
Intelligence Analysis and Assessment edited by David Charters, A. Stuart Farson
and Glenn R Hastedt
TET1968: Understanding the Surprise by Ronnie E. Ford
Intelligence and Imperial Defence: British Intelligence and the Defence of the Indian
Empire 1904-1924 by Richard J. Popplewell
Espionage: Past, Present, Future1 edited by Wesley K. Wark
The Australian Security Intelligence Organization: An Unofficial History by
Frank Cain
Policing Politics: Security Intelligence and the Liberal Democratic State by Peter Gill
From Information to Intrigue: Studies in Secret Service Based on the Swedish
Experience 1939-45 by C. G. McKay
Dieppe Revisited: A Documentary Investigation by John Campbell
More Instructions from the Centre by Andrew Gordievskv
Controlling Intelligence edited by Glenn P. Hastedt
Spy Fiction, Spy Films and Real Intelligence edited by Wesley K. Wark
Security and Intelligence m a Changing World: New Perspectives for the 1990s
edited by A. Stuart Farson, David Stafford and Wesley K. Wrark
A Don at War by Sir David Hunt K.C.M.G., O.B.E. (reprint)
Intelligence and Military Operations edited by Michael I. Handel
Leaders and Intelligence edited by Michael I. Handel
War, Strategy and Intelligence by Michael I. Handel
Strategic and Operational Deception in the Second World War edited by
Michael I. Handel
Codebreaker in the Far East by Alan Stripp
THE NORWEGIAN
INTELLIGENCE SERVICE
1945-1970
OLAV RISTE
Institute for Defence Studies, Oslo
D Routledge
Taylor &. Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First Published 1999 by
FRANK CASS PUBLISHERS
Published 2013 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0X14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
Copyright © 1999 Olav Riste
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Riste, Olav
The Norwegian intelligence service, 1945-1970. - (Cass
series. Studies in intelligence)
1. Intelligence service - Norway - History
I. Title
327.17481
Library of Congress Cataloging in-Publication Data
Riste, Olav
[Strengt hemmelig. English]
The Norwegian intelligence service, 1945-1970/Olav Riste.
p, cm. - (Cass series, studies in intelligence, ISSN
1368-9916)
Translation of: Strengt hemmelig / Olav Riste og Arnfinn Moland.
Moland not considered a co-author because he did not participate
in the revision that preceded the translation-Pref.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Intelligence service-Norway. 2. Interna! security-Norway.
I. Title II. Series.
HY8230.A2R5713 1999
327.12481—dc21 99-23373
CAP
ISBN 13: 978-0-714-64900-9 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-714-64455-4 (pbk)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher
of this book.
Contents
List of Illustrations vi
List of Maps viii
Preface ix
Abbreviations and Glossary xiii
1 Beginnings 1
2 Into the Cold War: Intelligence and Security 13
3 Occupation Preparedness: ‘Stay Behind’ 34
4 Through the Iron Curtain: Humint and Photint 55
5 Comint: Communications Intelligence 84
6 Electronic Intelligence (1): The Air Force as Elint Pioneer 115
7 Electronic Intelligence (2): The Norwegian Intelligence 146
Service Takes Over
8 Sound Waves in the Seas: BRIDGE/SOSUS/CANASTA 164
9 Monitoring of Nuclear Tests 191
10 Telemetry: Surveillance of Space, Missiles and Satellite 212
Activity
11 ‘Sets of Professional Bargains’: The Foreign Relations of the 225
Norwegian Intelligence Service
12 A State Within the State? Controlling the Intelligence 235
Service
13 The Uses of Intelligence 249
14 ‘Square Pegs in Round Holes’: Organisation and Personnel 262
15 final Act for Evang 273
Conclusion 287
Operations and Code-Names 297
Maps 302
Bibliography 307
Index 311
Illustrations
Between pages 142 and 143
1. Vilhelm Andreas Wexelsen Evang.
2. Colonel Alfred R. Roscher Lund.
3. Colonel Johan Berg.
4. Jens Christian Hauge.
5. Three photographs taken by agents on Norwegian merchant ships
in Soviet ports: (a) Golf I-class diesel submarine; (b) a Foxtrot-class
diesel submarine; (c) a saw mill on fire in Siberia.
6. CIA HQ_, Langley, Virginia, in the mid-1960s.
7. U-2 spy plane.
8. RB-47 aircraft in flight.
9. Helge Reiss-Andersen.
10. Knut Willy Kval.
11. Plan of ICBM launch site at Plesetsk.
12. Four founding members of the NIS: (a) Alf Martens Meyer; (b) Jon
K. Brynildsen; (c) Dag Falchenberg; (d) Erling Hellerslien.
13. First land station for the underwater sound surveillance system at
Andoya in north Norway.
14. BRIDGE underwater sound surveillance system.
15. Satellite image of Severodvinsk shipyard.
16. METRO Elint station, near Soviet border: (a) in its earliest stages;
(b) as fully operational, from 1961.
17. Large Soviet aerial complex on Hill 220 near Luostari air base.
18. HEKLA Elint/Radint station at Vardo.
19. Interior of HEKLA.
20. Three vessels used by NIS for missions: (a) Eger; (b) Marjata I;
(c) Marjata II.
21. The main Comint station, at Vadso.
Illustrations Vll
22. The Fauske II (CODHOOK) station.
23. BARHAUG Elint/Comint station at Viksjofjell: (a) the first fixed
installation; (b) the station as completed; (c) section of the aerial in
the tower; (d) a Comint ‘position’ or table.
Illustrations 6, 7 and 8 are reproduced with permission of the American
Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS): taken from
Robert A. McDonald, Corona between the Sun and the Earth: The First
NRO Reconnaissance Eye in Space (Bethesda, MD: ASPRS, 1997).
Illustrations 11 and 15 are courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency.
All other illustrations are courtesy of the NIS.
Maps
page
1. Active Norwegian intelligence stations, 1945-72 302
2. The northern Soviet Union and adjoining areas 303
3. The Soviet-Norwegian border region 304
4. Some intelligence targets in the Kola inlet 305
Preface
This book is a thoroughly revised version of a work by Olav Riste and
Arnfinn Moland entitled ‘Strengt Hemmelig’: Norsk etterretningsteneste
1945-1970, published by Norwegian University Press in 1997. That book
was the result of a research project commissioned by the Royal Norwegian
Ministry of Defence. The terms of reference for that project, agreed
between the Ministry and the present author as leader of the project, was
as follows: ‘The aim of the project is to produce a scholarly historical
study of the activity of the Norwegian Intelligence Service from 1945 up
to about 1970.’ It was further stated that:
Arrangements will be made for the historians to have access to and
be able to utilise all archival material and all oral sources which may
be of importance to their work. The historians will enjoy complete
freedom to produce their account in accordance with scholarly
criteria, and the aim is that the result should be published. The
Ministry reserves the right to review the manuscript before publi
cation. Such review will only be for the purpose of assuring the legal
right to privacy of persons mentioned, and to prevent publication
of particularly sensitive information that might prejudice national
security.
Owing to various reports alleging that most of the archive material of the
intelligence service had been destroyed, the project leader felt it necessary
to undertake a preliminary survey of the state of the archives before
signing the contract. The survey showed that the archive material,
although scattered and badly organised, seemed sufficiently rich to make
possible a scholarly satisfactory study.
The work on the book was carried out at the Norwegian Institute for
Defence Studies, and the practical arrangement was that the authors first
