Trine Bramsen (born 26 March 1981) is a Danish politician of the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

, who has been a member of the

Folketing The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...

since 2011. She served as minister of transport from February to December 2022 and minister of defence from 2019 until February 2022.

Early and personal life

Bramsen was born in

Svendborg Svendborg () is a town on the island of Funen in south-central Denmark, and the seat of Svendborg Municipality. With a population of 27,616 (1 January 2025), Svendborg is Funen's second largest city.Deloitte Deloitte is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of employees, and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along wi ...

from 2007 until 2011.

Political career

Parliament

Bramsen was first elected member of

Folketinget The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral List of legislatures by country, national legislature (parliament) of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper to ...

for the

in the 2011 election, where she received 4,497 votes. She was reelected in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

with 8,337 votes and again in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

with 10,594 votes.

Minister of Defence

Bramsen was appointed

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

in the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Mette Frederiksen Mette Frederiksen (; born 19 November 1977) is a Danish politician who has been the Prime Minister of Denmark, prime minister of Denmark since June 2019, and Social Democrats (Denmark)#Leaders of the Social Democrats, leader of the Social Democr ...

on 27 June 2019. Early in her tenure, she oversaw the addition of about 700 soldiers, a frigate and four fighter jets to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

forces. Following the

2020 Iranian attack on U.S. forces in Iraq On 8 January 2020, in a military operation code named Operation Martyr Soleimani (), Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched over 12 ballistic missiles at the al-Asad Airbase in Al Anbar Governorate, western Iraq, as well as a ...

, she temporarily moved some of its military personnel for the

international military intervention against ISIL Many states began to intervene against the Islamic State, in both the Syrian civil war and the War in Iraq (2013–2017), in response to its rapid territorial gains from its 2014 Northern Iraq offensives, universally condemned executions, hu ...

from the

Al Asad Airbase Al-Asad Airbase is an Iraqi airbase located in al-Anbar Governorate of western Iraq. It was originally known as Qadisiyah Airbase. It was the second largest US military airbase in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Until January 2010, it was ...

to Kuwait. Following revelations by the DR in May 2021, that Denmark had aided the

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

in spying on ally countries, Bramsen stated that "systematic wiretapping of close allies is unacceptable". After two Russian fighter jets flew into Danish airspace in June 2021, Bramsen called it “a deliberate provocation by Russia”, further stating the fighters were warned that they were entering Danish airspace. She also warned that “it is a clear sign that they are willing to break every rule” and that “we can’t afford to be naive”. Bramsen warned that Denmark would withdraw their soldiers from

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

if the country’s authorities were to seek negotiations with Russian mercenaries to combat Islamic extremist groups. Speaking to

Jyllands-Posten (; English: ''The Morning Newspaper "The Jutland Post"''), commonly shortened to or ''JP'', is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper. It is based in Aarhus C, Jutland, and with a weekday circulation of approximately 120,000 copies.IT-Political Association of Denmark The IT-Political Association (Danish: IT-Politisk Forening, commonly known as IT-Pol) is a Danish non-profit NGO, which works to collect information on IT and convey this to politicians and the society to get the best possible grounds for legislat ...

in a debate about electronic elections wherein participants are identified with chips. Bramsen argued in favour of the electronic elections, which she perceived as feasible, even though the Association with technical industry experience was in opposition. She wrote an article titled ''A call for IT nerds: Stop wearing tennis socks — and speak so that we can understand you!''. The article was met with criticism for its tone. As a result, she was reassigned to be a spokesperson on justice. In her new position, she argued for making The Onion Router illegal. In 2020 Bramsen exposed a secret agreement with the US, made during the tenures of

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

and

Poul Nyrup Rasmussen Poul Oluf Nyrup Rasmussen (, informally Poul Nyrup, born 15 June 1943) is a retired Danish politician, who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 25 January 1993 to 27 November 2001 and President of the Party of European Socialists (PES) from ...

and signed by subsequent Danish defense ministers, allowing American authorities to tap Danish phone cables. In 2021 MP

Søren Espersen Søren Espersen (born 20 July 1953) is a Danish politician, journalist, and author, who is a member of the Folketing for the Denmark Democrats. Espersen was originally elected for the Danish People's Party in 2005, and was the party's foreign aff ...

called for her resignation, for disrespecting the

Chief of Defence A chief of defence (or head of defence) is the highest ranked Officer (armed forces), commissioned officer of a nation's armed forces. The acronym CHOD is in common use within NATO and the European Union as a generic term for the highest national ...

, by calling her an ”agency leader”.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bramsen, Trine 1981 births Living people People from Svendborg Social Democrats (Denmark) politicians 21st-century Danish women politicians Women government ministers of Denmark Ministers of defence of Denmark Female defence ministers Women members of the Folketing Members of the Folketing 2011–2015 Members of the Folketing 2015–2019 Members of the Folketing 2019–2022 Transport ministers of Denmark 20th-century Danish women Members of the Folketing 2022–2026 Roskilde University alumni