E 14 (Norway)

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E 14 (Norwegian: "Seksjon for spesiell innhenting", or E14) was a unit within the Intelligence Service of Norway. The section was focusing on covert missions abroad. [1] This particular unit was active from 1995 [2] to 2005. [3] The original section consisted of 140 individuals. [4] Male and female agents worked together as a small independent unit to gather HUMINT intelligence information in various countries, including Bosnia and Hercegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Somalia and Afghanistan.

Norway Country in Northern Europe

Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northwestern Europe whose territory comprises of the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula; the remote island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard are also part of the Kingdom of Norway. The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land.

Kosovo Partially-recognised state in Southeast Europe

Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a partially recognized state and disputed territory in Southeastern Europe.

Serbia Republic in Southeastern Europe

Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a country situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe in the southern Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. It borders Hungary to the north, Romania to the northeast, Bulgaria to the southeast, North Macedonia to the south, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to the west, and Montenegro to the southwest. The country claims a border with Albania through the disputed territory of Kosovo. Serbia's population numbers approximately seven million. Its capital, Belgrade, ranks among the longest inhabited and largest citiеs in southeastern Europe.

Contents

Evolution

The E 14 section was kept separate from the rest of the Norwegian Intelligence Service of Norway and its existence were known to very few individuals in Norway. [5] The unit was established as a direct consequence of the turmoils in the Balkans in the middle of the 1990s. The enemy scenario in the Balkans became more difficult as NATO took overall command of the United Nations. [6] To secure Norwegian personnel in the area, it was necessary to have a tighter and better intelligence.

Norwegian Intelligence Service

The Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) or Etterretningstjenesten (E-tjenesten) is a Norwegian military intelligence agency under the Chief of Defence and the Ministry of Defence.

Balkans Geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe

The BalkansBAWL-kənz, also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographic area in Southeast Europe with various definitions and meanings, including geopolitical and historical. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the whole of Bulgaria from the Serbian–Bulgarian border to the Black Sea coast. The Balkan Peninsula is bordered by the Adriatic Sea on the northwest, the Ionian Sea on the southwest, the Aegean Sea in the south and southeast, and the Black Sea on the east and northeast. The northern border of the peninsula is variously defined. The highest point of the Balkans is Mount Musala, 2,925 metres (9,596 ft), in the Rila mountain range, Bulgaria.

NATO Intergovernmental military alliance of Western states

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 29 North American and European countries. The organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949. NATO constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's Headquarters are located in Evere, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.

The unit gathered vital information in the areas it operated. Information that gained the unit recognition both domestically and abroad.

E14 developed new ways of operation that made the team on the ground able to operate more independently than before.

The unit focused mainly on confidence-building activities, and primarily recruited people who had plenty of cultural and language skills, in addition to a "common sense" attitude.[ citation needed ]

According to information released about the unit actions, the E 14 unit was the first one to identify that Ibrahim Rugova would be the most likely person to create stability in Kosovo. [7] This was at a time when Norway, represented by the then foreign minister Mr Knut Vollebæk was chairman of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. [8] Most other international leaders and governments were pointing out that Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) was the best option. However the E 14 solution was accepted by the international community after a while. [7]

Ibrahim Rugova President of Kosovo

Ibrahim Rugova was the first President of the partially recognised Republic of Kosova, serving from 1992 to 2000 and again from 2002 until his death in 2006, and a prominent Kosovo Albanian political leader, scholar, and writer. He oversaw a popular struggle for independence, advocating a peaceful resistance to Yugoslav rule and lobbying for U.S. and European support, especially during the Kosovo War. Owing to his role in Kosovo's history, Rugova has been dubbed "Father of the Nation" and "Gandhi of the Balkans". Rugova founded the political party Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) in 1989. The LDK, which had the support of 90% of the ethnic Albanian population of Kosovo, advocated for Kosovo’s independence by peaceful means. The party established a shadow government that provided basic government and social services to the Kosovo Albanian population, including education and health care, in effect creating a parallel state. In May 1992, Rugova was elected President of this parallel state. In March 2002, with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo administering the province, he was elected President of Kosovo. He held this position until his death in January 2006, and was posthumously declared a Hero of Kosovo.

Knut Vollebæk Norwegian diplomat and politician

Knut Vollebæk is a former Norwegian diplomat to the United States, (2001-2007, and centrist politician. He is currently a member of the International Commission on Missing Persons Board of Commissioners and heads a government commission investigating the situation of Norwegian Travellers.

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe security-oriented intergovernmental organization

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, promotion of human rights, freedom of the press, and fair elections. It employs around 3,460 people, mostly in its field operations but also in its secretariat in Vienna, Austria and its institutions. It has its origins in the 1975 Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland.

21st century

Agents from E 14 were already active in Afghanistan in 2000. [9] Gathering HUMINT intelligence at a time when the country was under the Taliban regime, and was housing some of the world's most notorious terrorists. The unit was gathering information about the country and the population in the Khyber pass border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The agents returned to Afghanistan only a few months after the September 11 attacks in 2001, and established a base in a house in Kabul. For 3 years they gathered vital information, and established connections with other contacts across the country.

Afghanistan A landlocked south-central Asian country

Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in South-Central Asia. Afghanistan is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east; Iran in the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north; and in the far northeast, China. Much of its 652,000 square kilometers (252,000 sq mi) is covered by the Hindu Kush mountain range at the western end of the Himalayas, separating the Amu Darya and Indus valleys. Kabul is the capital and largest city.

Taliban Islamic fundamentalist political movement in Afghanistan

The Taliban or Taleban, who refer to themselves as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), are a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist political movement and military organization in Afghanistan currently waging war within that country. Since 2016, the Taliban's leader is Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada.

Pakistan federal parliamentary constitutional republic in South Asia

Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the world’s sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 212,742,631 people. In area, it is the 33rd-largest country, spanning 881,913 square kilometres. Pakistan has a 1,046-kilometre (650-mile) coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest, and China in the northeast. It is separated narrowly from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor in the northwest, and also shares a maritime border with Oman.

E 14 was also one of very few western intelligence units that had central sources high up in the regime of Saddam Hussein before the invasion of Iraq. The sources gave the unit and the Norwegian Intelligence Service information that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction. [10]

Saddam Hussein Iraqi politician and President

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and later, the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organization the Iraqi Ba'ath Party—which espoused Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and socialism—Saddam played a key role in the 1968 coup that brought the party to power in Iraq.

Iraq Republic in Western Asia

Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in Western Asia, bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest and Syria to the west. The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. Iraq is home to diverse ethnic groups including Arabs, Kurds, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians and Kawliya. Around 95% of the country's 37 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish.

Merger

In 2006 the unit was merged into another section of the Norwegian Intelligence Service. [11]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Norske agenter ble sendt på oppdrag i ni land". Opphavsrett NRK. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  2. ↑ "Norske agenter ble sendt på oppdrag i ni land - (Norwegian agents sent to Northern Ireland)". Dagbladet Norway. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  3. ↑ "Norske agenter ble sendt på oppdrag i ni land -Northern Ireland". Afternoon post Norway. Archived from the original on 9 February 2011. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  4. ↑ "E 14-spionene hadde sexforbud på jobb Minst ti kvinner var agenter - (Gender of 140 agents)". VG Nett. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  5. ↑ "This is the Norwegian secret spy group E 14". JeedOnline. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  6. ↑ "Gikk til krig uten å kjenne til etterretningsgruppe- (Balkans conflict 1999)". Opphavsrett NRK. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  7. 1 2 "E14: De første som pekte på Rugova". DB Medialab AS. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  8. ↑ "Avslører hemmelig norsk spiongruppe - (Norwegian espionage group)". Opphavsrett NRK. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  9. ↑ "Litt av en fyr - Visste ingenting om brorens hemmelige rolle (commandos 1998)". Dagbladet Norway. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  10. ↑ "Norske spioner fikk vite at Saddam Hussein ikke hadde masse?deleggelsesv?pen". VG Norway. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  11. ↑ "Han var sjefen for Norges E 14-spioner - Farewll E14". VG Network. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
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