Government Launches New Intelligence Service: 'Urgency'

At a press conference on Tuesday morning, Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) presented the government’s plans to establish a new civilian agency for foreign intelligence. The Armed Forces are critical.

According to the government, the matter is urgent and the agency is expected to be operational already by the turn of the year, with recruitment already underway. A legislative referral has also been submitted with the necessary legal changes for the new agency, which will collect information on other countries and threats against Sweden in the form of terrorism, cyber threats, and security risks.

– The serious security and political situation makes it urgent to quickly raise the overall capability of the Swedish intelligence system, says Maria Malmer Stenergard.

The new agency will be called Sweden’s Foreign Intelligence Service, abbreviated as Und.

– The new foreign intelligence service will take over parts of the military intelligence service’s tasks and work very closely with the Armed Forces, FRA, and Säpo, says Maria Malmer Stenergard and continues:

– The new organization is expected to lead to a clearer division of tasks and responsibility, as well as ensuring the entire threat picture can be covered in a better way. Some overlap in assignments is not a disadvantage, either.

The Armed Forces are Critical

The proposal for a civilian foreign intelligence service was presented in June 2025 in an inquiry led by Carl Bildt. It argued that matters such as NATO membership, heightened security conditions, and technological development mean the government can no longer rely solely on the military’s intelligence.

The Armed Forces are critical and consider the timeline too tight, warning that the reorganization could jeopardize coordination and disrupt ongoing intelligence work.

Press conference:

Legislative referral sent out. The Armed Forces are critical