Finland is preparing a significant expansion of the powers of its military intelligence. A new draft law, submitted for consideration, would allow the services to access the contents of messages and significantly strengthen surveillance tools, reports Yle.
Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen asserts that the expansion is necessary to protect national security and will not weaken citizens’ privacy protections.
Under the reform, the Military Intelligence Act will change in several key areas. Military intelligence will no longer be required to notify private individuals and companies that they were monitored after the surveillance ends. Currently, such notification is mandatory for all non-state entities to ensure their legal protection. Häkkänen explains that the current practice can reveal intelligence methods and thereby endanger national security interests, especially when the main targets of military intelligence are foreign government structures and their collaborators. The minister emphasizes that oversight will remain strict: the intelligence oversight commissioner and the courts will continue to fully control these activities and prevent possible abuses.
The draft law also allows messages to be searched by their content, such as keywords or specific topics. Under current law, such filtering is prohibited. It will now be possible to track messages sent or received from phones or other devices within Finland, which should help identify dangerous communications. Responding to a question about whether the law gives the right to monitor private correspondence, Häkkänen stated that it does not involve mass surveillance. According to him, the new model enables broader identification of potentially dangerous actors and their communications related to activities that threaten the state.
A separate part of the reform strengthens military intelligence access to civilian data. The services will be able to obtain a wider range of information from the tax authority, insurance companies, financial supervisory authorities, pension funds, and the employment service. The minister insists this does not mean total control over people’s lives: the measures are applied only when there is suspicion that a person or organization poses a national security threat, may conduct covert operations, or is involved in money laundering.
Powers to intervene in information systems will also expand. Systems located abroad that are used in ways that threaten Finland’s security can be blocked, disrupted, or modified. Häkkänen explains that the details of the methods are not disclosed for security reasons, but this includes, for example, preventing potential attacks on the country’s critical information infrastructure.
Additional powers will be granted to the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Border Guard. The minister acknowledges public concerns about the expansion of powers but assures that oversight in Finland is among the strictest in Europe. Supervision is carried out by the intelligence commissioner, operational permissions are issued by the courts, leaders are held accountable both administratively and, if necessary, criminally, and a parliamentary committee oversees intelligence activities.
Finland’s first national intelligence law came into effect only in 2019, but authorities consider it already outdated. According to the minister, technology and threats are changing rapidly, especially in light of aggressive actions by neighboring countries and their allies, and Finland must keep pace in this evolving security landscape.
