The Armed Forces, Chief of Defense Eirik Kristoffersen | When will the defense chief realize his promises of transparency?

Chief of Defense Eirik Kristoffersen appears outwardly as a keen spokesperson for transparency. But here are some recent examples of the Armed Forces actively preventing access.

Recently, I received yet another rejection of an interview request for the Norwegian Armed Forces’ special forces (FS). Fritt Ord and Cappelen Damm want to support my book project about FS, if they can apply for an interview.

It does not help either that I have been employed in the Defense Forum, or that I have proposed a number of extraordinary considerations to safeguard the anonymity and safety of the special forces.

On the government’s website, it is stated that transparency “counteracts reprehensible behavior and uncultured behavior.”

Those who believe that special forces must stay away from journalists should listen to Forsvarspodden on 30 November 2023 where the chief of defense (28:20 minutes out) encourages “everyone in the Armed Forces to talk to the media”.

In the rejection of my application for an interview, it says that “Openness is, of course, important for the special forces”, etc.

Nevertheless, they cannot apply for an interview because “the project will challenge the security domain to a great extent.”

Norway has a neighboring state which “creates an uncertain security political era in Europe and the world”, says the reply signed by the spokesperson for the Norwegian Armed Forces, lieutenant colonel Vegard Finberg.

In Finberg’s world, due to Russia’s aggressive posture, considerations of security must trump all other considerations, including freedom of expression.

A conscript soldier in the Armed Forces Special Command (FSK) was shot in the stomach and seriously injured during an exercise in 2021.

Should NRK refrain from investigating the incident because journalism about the special forces “challenges the security domain”?

The value of information

Journalist Tom Bakkeli wrote two books about the special forces.

“Many in the special forces and in the Norwegian Armed Forces in general saw that it was not only possible, but that there was also value in informing about what they stand for and do”, Bakkeli wrote in the foreword to the book Warriors and diplomats (2013).

“History has shown that no one benefits from too strict secrecy,” wrote Bakkeli, and praised the then head of FSK, Eirik Kristoffersen, for supporting the idea of ​​a book from the inside.

Prioritizes propaganda

In connection with the Nordic Response exercise in March, I asked the Armed Forces’ operational headquarters (FOH) to interview the Marinejegerkommando (MJK) or the Defense Special Command (FSK). Both belong to FS.

“MJK and FSK don’t want the media present either, but we’re going to produce something from them ourselves if you’re interested?” came the reply from FOH.

The special forces thus have time to present themselves to the Armed Forces’ own content producers, but cannot meet journalists from editor-controlled media.

In other words, the defense says: Yes to propaganda. No to balanced narratives.

Does not fit with the radar

Another example: My repeated requests to the Intelligence Battalion to interview the Remote Reconnaissance Squadron have for months been routinely rejected with platitudes such as “Unfortunately, we don’t have anything that fits the radar as of now.”

To the Chief of Defence: Will the Armed Forces continue down this path of excessive secrecy, while you give celebratory speeches about openness?

Or do you want to prove that your promises have real meaning?

“Leadership in the Armed Forces must cultivate openness and cooperation”, you wrote in the Armed Forces’ basic approach to leadership.

And in 2020, you claimed in a debate post in Nordlys that you want the widest possible debate about the Armed Forces, and that you “encourage all employees in the Armed Forces to participate with their own views, both internally and publicly”.

I would like to have a meeting where we look at how the aforementioned book project can be realized without compromising the safety of the special forces.

When it suits you?