Ørnulf Tofte
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Ørnulf Tofte (12 February 1922 – 26 August 2020) was a Norwegian police officer and a major figure in the Norwegian
intelligence service An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of info ...
during the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
. He served as assistant chief of police and head of
counter-intelligence Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting ac ...
in the Police Surveillance Agency. Tofte uncovered several illegal Soviet spies and personally arrested
Asbjørn Sunde Asbjørn Edvin Sunde (12 December 1909 – 23 April 1985) was a Norwegian politician for the Communist Party of Norway, communist partisan during the Spanish Civil War, saboteur against the Nazi occupation of Norway during the Second World ...
, Gunvor Galtung Haavik and
Arne Treholt Arne Treholt (13 December 1942 – 12 February 2023) was a Norwegian-born, Russia-based convicted felon and KGB agent who was convicted of treason and espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union against Norway during the Cold War and sentenced to 20 ...
.Norges største spionjeger
NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...
Tofte was widely recognized for his role during the Cold War, and received the King's Medal of Merit in Gold in 1987. He published the biography ''Spaneren'' in the same year.


Personal life

Tofte was born in
Kristiania Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022, an ...
, a son of Tor and Gudrun Tofte. He was married to Odlaug Larsen. He died in
Bærum Bærum () is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Akershus County, Norway. It forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a populatio ...
on 26 August 2020, at the age of 98.


Career

Tofte graduated from the police academy in March 1940 and joined the police force as a constable. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, he took part in the resistance during 1940. In 1942 he fled to Sweden and served in the Norwegian police troops in Sweden until the end of the war. In 1948, he joined the Police Surveillance Agency. He was promoted to sergeant in 1952 and inspector in 1954. He eventually rose to become Assistant Chief of Police and Head of Counter-Intelligence, reporting directly to the Director of the Police Surveillance Agency. Tofte was involved in the investigations of all the three major spy cases in Norway during the Cold War: The Sunde case, the Haavik case and the Treholt case. He personally arrested all three and headed the investigations of the Haavik and Treholt cases. He has said that "Treholt's abilities to manipulate people around him are the reason why the Treholt case is still kept alive". Tofte has stated that "for me there is a line from 9 April 1940, the German invasion, to the fight against communism. Both are about fighting for democracy, and against dictatorship." In 2016 interview, he stated that Norway and the West are in a New Cold War with Russia. In his last interview in April 2020 Tofte discussed the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and earlier crises he has experienced during the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
.


Biography

In 1987 he published his autobiography, ''Spaneren''.


Honours

He received the King's Medal of Merit in Gold upon his retirement in 1987.


Publications

*Ørnulf Tofte: ''Spaneren: Overvåkning for rikets sikkerhet'',
Gyldendal Norsk Forlag Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS, commonly referred to as Gyldendal N.F. and in Norway often only as Gyldendal, is one of the largest Norway, Norwegian publishing houses. It was founded in 1925 after buying rights to publications from the Denmark, Dan ...
, 1987,


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tofte, Oernulf 1922 births 2020 deaths Norwegian autobiographers Police officers from Oslo Recipients of the King's Medal of Merit in gold