In Finland, all intelligence services operate under the direction of the ministry of defense or the ministry of the interior.
As Finland is a member of the European Union (EU), its intelligence community is aiding the development of EU military intelligence. Finnish intelligence's specialty is electronic and remote intelligence systems. Today, Finland maintains a few strategic intelligence services. As well, many Soviet defectors were smuggled through Finland. Finland did not join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO), but provided western European and United States intelligence forces with crucial information on Soviet operations. Both American and Soviet agents operated in Finland. However, Finnish intelligence also sold the same information to several other nations.ĭuring the Cold War, Finland again was a key espionage and intelligence outpost. There, agents sold the United States information on both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The operation was known as Stella Polaris. With the aid of the United States Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA), members of Finland's intelligence community were smuggled into neighboring Sweden. Its position on the Baltic Sea, and proximity to both Russia and Western Europe, influenced the development of its national political character and intelligence community.ĭuring World War II, as the Nazis planned their invasion of the Soviet Union and sought to stop operations of the Soviet Navy in the Baltic region, the Finnish government feared invasion.
Finland's geographic location made the nation one of the key strategic intelligence points during the twentieth century.
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