The prosecution (Anklagemyndigheden) decided to drop the case against former Minister of Defense Claus Hjort Frederiksen and former head of the Defense Intelligence Service (FE) Lars Findsen. Why? The intelligence services refused to make evidence available due to a fear of leaks.
- In Denmark, we have two intelligence services – internal, PET (Police Intelligence Service) which deals with domestic threats; and external, FE (Defense Intelligence Service) which deals with international threats.
- Claus and Lars are being accused of sharing confidential, highly classified information to journalists. One example is information about a cable cooperation between Denmark and the American security service, the National Security Agency (NSA). They were charged with Section 109 of the Penal Code, which deals with leaking state secrets and can lead to up to 12 years in prison.
- The prosecution presented harsh criticism of the legal system in connection with its decision to drop the criminal proceedings against Hjort and Findsen. They want a change in the law. The government will look at whether there is a need to amend the law for how criminal proceedings for breaches of confidentiality are carried out.
- The Ministry of Justice believes that there is a loophole in the law and that you can potentially get away with leaking state secrets without being prosecuted because the cases cannot proceed behind closed doors.
