CENTRUM FÖR RÄTTVISA v. SWEDEN JUDGMENT
4. the development and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,
military equipment and other similar specified products;
5. serious external threats to society’s infrastructure;
6. foreign conflicts with consequences for international security;
7. foreign intelligence operations against Swedish interests; and
8. the actions or intentions of a foreign power that are of substantial
importance for Swedish foreign, security or defence policy.
23. These eight purposes are further elaborated upon in the preparatory
works to the legislation (prop. 2008/09:201, pp. 108-109):
“The purposes for which permits to conduct signals intelligence may be granted are
listed in eight points. The first point concerns external military threats to the country.
Military threats include not only imminent threats, such as threats of invasion, but also
phenomena that may in the long term develop into security threats. Consequently, the
wording covers the surveying of military capabilities and capacities in our vicinity.
The second point comprises both surveying necessary to provide an adequate basis
for a decision whether to participate in international peacekeeping or humanitarian
missions and surveying performed during ongoing missions concerning threats to
Swedish personnel or other Swedish interests.
The third point refers to strategic surveying of international terrorism or other
serious cross-border crime, such as drug or human trafficking of such severity that it
may threaten significant national interests. The task of signals intelligence in relation
to such activities is to survey them from a foreign and security policy perspective; the
intelligence needed to combat the criminal activity operatively is primarily the
responsibility of the police.
The fourth point addresses the need to use signals intelligence to follow, among
other things, activities relevant to Sweden’s commitments in regard to nonproliferation and export control, even in cases where the activity does not constitute a
crime or contravenes international conventions.
The fifth point includes, among other things, serious IT-related threats emanating
from abroad. That the threats should be of a serious nature means that they, for
example, should be directed towards vital societal systems for energy and water
supply, communication or monetary services.
The sixth point refers to the surveying of such conflicts between and
countries that may have consequences for international security. It may
regular acts of war between States but also internal or cross-border conflicts
different ethnic, religious or political groups. The surveying of the conflicts
examining their causes and consequences.
in other
concern
between
includes
The seventh point signifies that intelligence activities conducted against Swedish
interests can be surveyed through signals intelligence.
The eighth point provides the opportunity to conduct signals intelligence against
foreign powers and their representatives in order to survey their intentions or actions
that are of substantial importance to Swedish foreign, security or defence policy. Such
activities may relate only to those who represent a foreign power. Through the
condition “substantial importance” it is emphasised that it is not sufficient that the
phenomenon is of general interest but that the intelligence should have a direct impact
on Swedish actions or positions in various foreign, security or defence policy
matters. ...”