Janne Kristiansen (born 21 November 1952) is a Norwegian jurist. She was the first head of the
Criminal Cases Review Commission
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is the statutory body responsible for investigating alleged miscarriages of justice in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It was established by Section 8 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 and be ...
from 2004 to 2009. and head of the
Norwegian Police Security Service
The Norwegian Police Security Service (, ) is the police security agency of Norway. The agency was previously known as ''POT'' (' or Police Surveillance Agency), the name change was decided by the Parliament of Norway on 2 June 2001.
History an ...
(PST) from 2009 to 2012, a position from which she resigned following a heavily politicized
scandal
A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way a ...
.
Career
Born in
Oslo
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 ...
, Janne Kristiansen graduated
cand. jur.
Candidate ( or ) is the name of various academic degrees, which are today mainly awarded in Scandinavia. The degree title was phased out in much of Europe through the 1999 Bologna Process, which has re-formatted academic degrees in Europe.
The de ...
from the
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...
in 1979 and worked for a number of years as a high-profiled defence attorney. She was the head of Forsvarergruppen av 1977 (a group of defence lawyers working to promote the principles of the
Rechtsstaat
''Rechtsstaat'' (; lit. "state of law"; "legal state") is a doctrine in continental European legal thinking, originating in Germany, German jurisprudence. It can be translated into English as "rule of law", alternatively "legal state", state of l ...
and
rule of law
The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...
) between 1985 and 1990. Kristiansen worked as a public defender in
Borgarting Court of Appeal
The Borgarting Court of Appeal () is one of six intermediate courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Oslo. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Oslo, Buskerud, and parts of Akershus and Østfold. ...
from 1986 and in
Moss District Court
Moss District Court () was a district court in western Østfold county, Norway. The court was based in Moss. The court existed until 2021. It had jurisdiction over Moss Municipality, Råde Municipality, and Våler Municipality (before merging wi ...
from 1990.
Janne Kristiansen has participated in the making of several
Norwegian Official Report
A Norwegian Official Report (, NOU) is a report published by a panel or committee appointed by the Norwegian government. The Norwegian Parliament may request the government to establish, such a committee.
The first NOU was commissioned in 1972, ...
s, such as NOU 2003.18 on
national security
National security, or national defence (national defense in American English), is the security and Defence (military), defence of a sovereign state, including its Citizenship, citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of ...
and NOU 2003.21 on "Crime fighting and privacy - the police and public prosecutors' processing of information".
As head of the Criminal Cases Review Commission between 2004 and 2009 she oversaw the decisions on the applications to appeal the criminal trials of
Fredrik Fasting Torgersen
Fredrik Ludvig Fasting Torgersen (1 October 1934 – 18 June 2015) was a Norwegian man who was convicted of murder in 1958 in a much-debated case, and released from prison in 1974.
Serving 16 years in prison before being released, he continuously ...
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 ...
.
She was appointed to the position as director of the
Norwegian Police Security Service
The Norwegian Police Security Service (, ) is the police security agency of Norway. The agency was previously known as ''POT'' (' or Police Surveillance Agency), the name change was decided by the Parliament of Norway on 2 June 2001.
History an ...
on 25 September 2009. There were three other applicants, and Minister of Justice
Knut Storberget
Knut Storberget (born 6 October 1964) is a Norwegian lawyer and politician for the Labour Party. He is currently serving as the county governor of Innlandet since 2019. He previously served as Minister of Justice under Jens Stoltenberg from 200 ...
had specifically asked her to apply. In the period between her appointment and her accession in November,
Roger Berg
Roger is a masculine given name, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic languages">Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") ...
was acting director. As head of the PST Kristiansen was juxtaposed with the director of the
National Police Directorate
National Police Directorate () is a government agency subordinate to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security which heads the Norwegian Police Service. The directorate is led by the National Police Commissioner (Politidirektør), who since 20 ...
as one of the two top leaders of the
Norwegian Police Service
The Norwegian Police Service () is the Norwegian national civilian police agency. The service dates to the 13th century when the first sheriffs were appointed, and the current structure established in 2003. It comprises a central National P ...
. During her time as head of the PST she oversaw the arrests of three men with residencies in Norway suspected of planning a terror attack on the Danish newspaper ''
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.terror attacks on the government quarters and Utøya on 22 July 2011 happened during her PST leadership.
She resigned as director on 18 January 2012, after accidentally revealing Norwegian intelligence assets in Pakistan, with her deputy Roger Berg succeeding her as acting leader.
Forced resignation as head of PST
Janne Kristiansen resigned as PST leader on 18 January 2012 following an
open hearing
Open or OPEN may refer to:
Music
* Open (band), Australian pop/rock band
* The Open (band), English indie rock band
* ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969
* ''Open'' (Gerd Dudek, Buschi Niebergall, and Edward Vesala album), 1979
* ''Open'' (Got ...
of the parliament's 22 July Committee (not to be confused with the 22 July Commission) that same day where she had been summoned to answer questions about Norwegian security and intelligence work. This unfolded after she had answered a direct question from Member of Parliament Akhtar Chaudhry ( Socialist Left Party) during the parliament's (Storting) questioning of her. The question was whether Norway has cooperation with
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
in the intelligence arena, and Kristiansen's reply was interpreted as a confirmation that the
Norwegian Intelligence Service
The Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) or () is a Norway, Norwegian military intelligence agency under the Chief of Defence (Norway), Chief of Defence and the Norwegian Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Defence.
History
Olav Njølstad says tha ...
(military intelligence) had in fact a presence in that country. Both the two major news agencies in Norway, however, have written that representatives from the
Norwegian Armed Forces
The Norwegian Armed Forces () are the armed forces responsible for the defence of Norway. It consists of five branches, the Norwegian Army, the Royal Norwegian Navy, which includes the Norwegian Coast Guard, Coast Guard, the Royal Norwegian Air ...
have confirmed the presence of the Intelligence Service abroad on a number of previous occasions. This would make it uncertain whether confidential information was revealed during the hearing. In March 2012 police investigations of Kristiansen were dropped by the Bureau for the Investigation of Police Affairs.