Ukraine, Ukraine Conflict | The Conservatives are equipping themselves with their own emergency preparedness committee

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– There will be no fewer crises in the years to come

The committee believes it is important not to drown in ongoing crisis management, but to look up and think about the long-term preparedness in Norway.

– When you are in the middle of a crisis, you must also prepare for the next crisis and do some work. It will be important for the government to keep both short-term and long-term focus, because I do not think there will be fewer crises in the years to come, says Farahmand to Nettavisen.

The committee says they are already well under way with the work, and refers, among other things, to a cyber security seminar that the justice faction in the Storting held in January. The purpose of the seminar was to strengthen efforts against cybercrime.

– Norwegian entities are exposed to cyber attacks daily. This hits pretty hard. One thing is to look at this from a security perspective, but from a financial perspective, it is quite problematic. It affects the profitability of Norwegian companies and creates a lot of headaches, says Farahmand, who sits on the Finance Committee in the Storting.

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– Increased intelligence threat against Norway

The Conservatives have previously put forward a bill to make it a criminal offense (with up to 3 years in prison or 10 years for serious offenses) to cooperate with foreign intelligence in order to influence public debate and the outcome of elections.

Stensland says it will be an important and natural task for the emergency preparedness committee to follow up this bill.

– Increased intelligence threat against Norway means that we must prepare well, says Stensland.

Stensland says that the Conservatives started the work of criminalizing advocacy activities already a year ago.

– Everything is ready. The proposal is in a drawer in the Ministry of Justice, he says.

Stensland says the purpose of the provision is to counteract so-called advocacy actions that are aimed at decisions or the general opinion formation in Norway.

– It is not statements as such that are criminalized, but the cooperation with the foreign intelligence service, Stensland says.

– It must therefore be possible to demonstrate some form of connection or connection to such a foreign intelligence service that performs an influence operation. It is legitimate to influence public opinion formation through utterances. However, it is not legitimate to do so in collaboration with a foreign intelligence service to the detriment of Norwegian interests, he says.

Five main areas of Russian influence

The US Department of State has prepared one report where they identify five main areas within Russian influence operations, propaganda and dissemination of disinformation (so-called Psy-Ops / Psychological operations):

• Communication through official, state channels (that is, official statements from the Kremlin or ministries, as well as official accounts on social media).
• Government funding of global message (funding / ownership of institutions, organizations, companies and media both at home and abroad).
• Proxy sources (various websites / news sites, think tanks and research institutions which are apparently independent, but which in reality are controlled and funded by the Russian state).
• Influence operations via social media (active influence and infiltration of the public debate via fake and automated accounts, with the intention of undermining trust in social institutions, as well as reinforcing protest and polarization).
• Covert cyber attacks (cloning and counterfeiting of websites, taking control of websites, as well as stealing information and publishing it to put someone / something in a bad light).

Fire, water and refugees

The committee believes that there are a number of basic social services that are particularly vulnerable and vulnerable in the current security policy situation, including water supply and fire services.

– In Norway, we have a municipal fire service that is very variable. It’s very good, but very different. There are regulations that regulate much of this, but fire preparedness is a weakness. Another thing is water supply. Here we are now (Stortinget editor’s note), we have one water source, and that is Maridalsvannet. There is a reserve water source that is on the way, but when we talk about water rationing already in March, it is very vulnerable with one water source in the capital, says Stensland.

Stensland refers to the ongoing development of the reserve water supply at Huseby in Oslo. The plan is for the reserve water supply to be completed by 2028.

Europe is now facing the biggest refugee crisis since World War II. Lønseth, who sits on the Local Government and Administration Committee, points to the influx of refugees from Ukraine as another vulnerable point in Norwegian emergency preparedness.

– The influx of refugees we are now seeing on the way from Ukraine means that we must think about what preparedness we have to deal with that type of large refugee flows and what preparedness we have for control at the border. We know that there may be others who try to get into the country when there are such large popular movements at once, says Lønseth.

During the refugee crisis in 2015, there was a real concern that actors with evil intentions, so-called threat actors, infiltrated refugee flows to enter European soil under the guise of being refugees.

– Is there a potential risk that threat actors hide in the refugee flow and pretend to be refugees?

– The most important thing is that the police register everyone who comes to Norway, and get control of those who come. That is why we have said that it would be natural for the government to consider stricter border controls when we know that so many are coming. It is precisely the border control and the check from the police that means that we always know who is in the country, says Lønseth.

Iodine and bomb rooms

Sharp military battles at vulnerable nuclear power plants in Ukraine, as well as Russia’s frightening nuclear weapons rhetoric, have raised awareness of emergency stocks, shelters and, not least, iodine tablets.

The need for refuge diminished considerably after the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In Norway, not a single new public shelter has been built since 1998. Today’s public and private shelters can only accommodate 2.5 million people, who make up just under half of Norway’s population, writes Civil Defense. In public shelters there is only room for 300,000 people.

Farahmand believes that the discussion about iodine tablets and shelters is more than dramatic.

– We imagine that a refuge is a long tunnel in a mountain. As a child, I lived during a war and was bombed to pieces. There are also other parts of a building that can be used as shelters, so we must not scare the filth of people either. That debate is a bit unvarnished. We will of course have shelter, but there are other ways to solve this, he says.

– When it comes to access to iodine tablets, we must communicate who these iodine tablets are actually intended for, he says.

Directorate for Civil Protection and Emergency (DSB) recommends that people under the age of 40 have access to iodine tablets, as it is primarily children, young adults and pregnant women who have the highest risk of developing cancer after being exposed to radioactive radiation.

Increased focus in municipal politics

The committee says that the new security policy situation in the world requires that the municipalities are also better prepared, and that it will be an important task for the party to put emergency preparedness policy on the agenda leading up to the municipal elections in 2024.

– We must realize that the municipality plays a major role in civil emergency preparedness. It is a weakness in Norway that the municipalities are so differently equipped, says Stensland.

– The first thing we will do now is to make our organization understand that emergency preparedness is also municipal policy. In municipal politics, it is a lot about school, the school road, the nursing home, zoning plans and where the shopping center will be located. The municipalities must take greater responsibility, says Stensland.

– In my time as a municipal and county politician, municipal preparedness was mostly about flood protection, climate adaptation, climate funds and increasing the building line. The emergency picture was different a few years ago. But now there are perhaps other external dangers that are more urgent, says Stensland, who emphasizes that climate adaptation is still important, he says.

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