Civilian intelligence legislation considered necessary and worth supporting

The proposal for legislation on civilian intelligence that is being prepared by the Ministry of the Interior is considered necessary and worth supporting. Most of the 65 parties who commented on the report on civilian intelligence published last April were of this opinion. The consultation round for the proposal closed in June, and a summary of the received comments was published 7 September 2017.

The majority of the consultation comments agree with the proposal’s primary objective to protect national security. The comments support the envisaged role of courts to decide whether intelligence gathering methods can be used to interfere with confidential communications. The plans to step up the oversight of legality are also supported. However, the comments hoped that further preparations would pay more attention to assessing the economic impact and specifying the targets of civilian intelligence gathering. Some of the comments also doubt the efficiency of gathering network traffic intelligence. The question of how and on what scale information would be disclosed to criminal investigation authorities still divides opinions.

Civilian intelligence legislation has sparked much public debate following a knife attack in Turku that is being investigated as a terrorist act. In this context, there has been discussion on amending the Constitution of Finland in an expedited procedure. The events that took place in Turku, however, have not been the reason for expediting the amendment of the Constitution; the need to amend the Constitution in an expedited procedure was recognised by public officials during the preparation phase well before the Turku attack.

Protecting national security as an objective

The security environment in Finland has changed rapidly. The Government has proposed the adoption of intelligence legislation in Finland, with the aim of improving our protection capabilities against serious threats to national security. Such threats include terrorism, espionage by foreign states or disruption of critical infrastructure.

The purpose of intelligence legislation is to enable effective information gathering on these threats, and in this way to support the decision-making of the state leaders. Another aim is to ensure that decisions are based on accurate, reliable and up-to-date information.

The Ministry of the Interior working group on civilian intelligence legislation focused on the duties and powers of the Finnish Security Intelligence Service. The work on civilian intelligence legislation continues, and it is being closely coordinated with the legislative projects of the Ministry of Defence on military intelligence and of the Ministry of Justice on the possible amendment of the Constitution. The Ministry of Justice is also preparing a project on the oversight of intelligence gathering.

The Ministries aim to submit these legislative proposals to Parliament during the current autumn session.

Inquiries:
Katriina Laitinen, Director of Legislative Affairs, tel. +358 295 488　559
Marko Meriniemi, Senior Ministerial Adviser, tel. +358 295 488 561
Heli Heikkola, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 295 488　224