Intelligence Elsewhere: Spies and Espionage Outside the Anglosphere

14 Intelligence Culture, Economic Espionage, and the Finnish Security Intelligence Service

C H A P T E R 1 4 Intelligence Culture, Economic Espionage, and the Finnish Security Intelligence Service Lauri Holmström I n the domain of international intelligence, Finland offers a perspective into a developing intelligence culture with the potential to facilitate change in how intelligence is perceived and practiced by a small nation. Finland has no civilian domestic or foreign intelligence service. The national intelligence machinery is divided between the Finnish Defense Forces and the Police of Finland. The Finnish Security Intelligence Service, previously known in English as the Finnish Security Police (Suojelupoliisi, Supo) is the operational security authority that has performed the tasks of counterespionage, counterterrorism , and security work in Finland since 1949.1 The service is a part of the Finnish Police. The Finnish Military Intelligence Center (FINMIC, Puolustusvoimien tiedustelukeskus) is a unit of the Defense Command of Finland and its Intelligence Division. FINMIC analyzes Finland’s security environment as well as the operating environment of the Defense Forces. The Finnish Intelligence Research Establishment (Viestikoelaitos) is the signals intelligence unit of the Finnish Defense Forces, which functions under the Finnish Air Force. Finland is a nonaligned country that participates in the NATO Partnership for Peace program. / 265 / 266 / Lauri Holmström This chapter examines Finnish intelligence and how it is represented by Supo in the post–Cold War era. The focus is especially on how Supo’s intelligence culture is reflected in counterespionage efforts against high-technology economic espionage.2 The strategic objective of protecting the nation’s economic life from illegal economic intelligence has been a priority for Supo since the agency’s founding. Its organizational culture still leans heavily on the Cold War experiences and on the historical legacy of the service as a security police force. However, Supo’s intelligence culture is currently in transition. In recent years modest steps have been taken toward a service that is more oriented toward security intelligence, wherein elements of the old culture have been merged with new administrative practices. This has led to a more international form of Finnish security intelligence, wherein elements of the larger Finnish grand strategy are also present. This chapter starts with a historical overview of Supo and its recent organizational changes. This is followed by an exploration of the operative environment of the service with regard to economic espionage and high technology. The chapter then develops the ideas brought forward by Stephen Welch on intelligence culture and applies them to the Finnish case of Supo. Finally, the conclusion offers a synthesis on Supo intelligence culture in the contemporary world as well as pathways into future research on the subject matter. Historical Overview and Recent Organizational Developments Supo was preceded by the Detective Central Police (Etsivä keskuspoliisi) from 1919 to 1937 and by the State Police (Valtiollinen poliisi, Valpo) between 1937 and 1949. During the years 1945–49 Valpo was dominated by Communists and known as ‘‘Red Valpo.’’ A new organization called the Security Police was established in 1949 to replace the dissolved Valpo. Headquartered in Helsinki, Supo today employs about 220 persons and in 2010 had a budget of y17 million. The fundamental task of Supo is the protection of parliamentary democracy and security interests of Finnish society. The principal values of the service are legality, reliability, and quality.3 Supo is tasked with preventing undertakings and crimes that may endanger the governmental and political system and internal or external security, and with investigating such crimes. Supo also maintains and develops the overall preparedness for preventing activities endangering national security. The matters investigated by the agency are determined by the National Police Board.4 The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI, Keskusrikospoliisi) is the national center for intelligence activities focused on serious and organized crime. NBI also serves as the national center of international criminal police cooperation. In intelligence matters Supo is responsible for gathering and analyzing intelligence and the NBI for criminal investigation. Supo changed its English name from the Finnish Security Police to the Finnish Intelligence Culture, Economic Espionage, and the Finnish Security Intelligence Service / 267 Security Intelligence Service in 2010 to signify its continuing evolution from the realm of police responsibilities and toward a more security intelligence-oriented service. To date, the history of Supo has been recounted in three authorized volumes , the latest and most comprehensive being the official history titled Ratakatu 12: Suojelupoliisi 1949–2009, which commemorates the sixtieth anniversary of the...