The Military Intelligence and Security Service (, MUST) is a division of the

Swedish Armed Forces The Swedish Armed Forces (, literally ''Defence Force'') are the Military, armed forces of the Kingdom of Sweden. It consists of four separate military branches, the Swedish Army, the Swedish Navy, the Swedish Air Force and the Home Guard (Swed ...

Central Command. MUST is both a foreign intelligence and a military security/counterintelligence agency. In its intelligence role, MUST is responsible for providing intelligence on foreign threats to the

Government of Sweden The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden () is the Cabinet (government), national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's Executive (government), executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Minister of Sweden, Prime Minister and their ...

and the

. However, signals intelligence is handled by a separate civilian agency operated by the Ministry of Defence, the Swedish National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA), which is not part of MUST. MUST is legally prohibited from gathering intelligence on Swedish domestic affairs, except in its more narrowly defined role a counter-intelligence agency tasked with identifying threats to the armed forces, such as sabotage, espionage, or infiltration. Domestic security and civilian counterintelligence in non-military contexts are handled by the

Swedish Security Service The Swedish Security Service ( , SÄPO , , formerly , RPS/Säk, until 1989) is a Sweden, Swedish Government agencies in Sweden, government agency organized under the Ministry of Justice (Sweden), Ministry of Justice. It operates as a security ...

(SÄPO), the civilian equivalent agency to MUST.

Departments

MUST consists of the following departments: ; ''Underrättelsekontoret'' (''UNDK'', Intelligence Office): Tasked with acquiring strategic intelligence for Central Command and Ministry of Defence decision-making, as well as aiding deployed Swedish military units. ; ''Säkerhetskontoret'' (''SÄKK'', Security Office): Tasked with electronic and

cyberwarfare Cyberwarfare is the use of cyberattack, cyber attacks against an enemy State (polity), state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems. Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, ...

counterintelligence Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's Intelligence agency, intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering informati ...

cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology (from "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logy, -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of Adversary (cryptography), ...

, and personnel

vetting Vetting is the process of performing a background check on someone before offering them employment, conferring an award, or doing fact-checking prior to making any decision. In addition, in intelligence gathering, assets are vetted to determin ...

, including to protect the Swedish Armed Forces against espionage or infiltration. ;'' Kontoret för Särskild Inhämtning'' (''KSI'', Office for Special Acquisition): Tasked with

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

abroad, including

human intelligence Human intelligence is the Intellect, intellectual capability of humans, which is marked by complex Cognition, cognitive feats and high levels of motivation and self-awareness. Using their intelligence, humans are able to learning, learn, Concept ...

and interagency relations, as well as clandestine activities. Little is known about KSI, which is generally considered the most secret part of MUST. MUST co-operates on various matters with other defence agencies, including the Swedish National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA), the

Swedish Defence Research Agency The Swedish Defence Research Agency (, FOI; literal translation: ''Total Defence Research Institute'') is a government agency in Sweden for total defence research and development. FOI has its headquarters in Kista (Stockholm). Other FOI offic ...

(FOI), and the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV). The current Director of MUST is Major General Thomas Nilsson. Even though MUST is technically a part of the military, a majority of its staff is civilian.

Directors

* 1993–1999: Erik Rossander * 1999–2003: Håkan Syrén * 2004–2007: Håkan Pettersson * 2007–2012: Stefan Kristiansson * 2012–2019: Gunnar Karlson * 2019–2023: Lena Hallin * 2023–present: Thomas Nilsson

References

External links

* {{Authority control Swedish intelligence agencies Military of Sweden Information sensitivity National security institutions Military intelligence agencies 1994 establishments in Sweden Government agencies established in 1994

Departments

Directors

See also

References

External links