For a long period of time, counter-terrorism has been one of the core tasks of PET. Particularly after the terrorist attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001, however, international security policy has been dominated mainly by international terrorism. Denmark participates in the international co-operation on combating terrorism, among other things through the UN Security Council Resolution 1373 and the EU framework decision 2002/475/RIA on the combat of terrorism.

Within the framework of this co-operation, Denmark has an obligation to prevent the preparation of terrorist actions and to ensure that Denmark is not a so-called ”safe haven”, in terms of terrorists having the possibility of setting up bases from which terrorist actions can be planned and implemented. Furthermore, Denmark is committed to ensure the prosecution of and suitable sanctions against terrorists, as well as to assist other countries in investigating criminal cases regarding terrorism. The Security Council resolution and the framework decision together with the UN terrorism financing convention, among others, provide the basis of the “anti-terror package” passed by the Danish Parliament, Folketinget, on 31 May 2002 and becoming effective as from 8 June 2002.

Politically, it has often been the case over the years that a person can be considered either a terrorist or a member of a resistance movement - depending on the eyes of the beholder.

The efforts of PET in terms of terrorism are, however, based on a criminal and thus legal approach.

In accordance with Section 114 of the Danish Penal Code, terrorism is defined as a series of very serious offences (e.g. murder, arson, kidnapping, hijacking, etc.) committed by groups, organisations and persons with the purpose of frightening the population, destabilising the order of society, or attempting to force Danish or foreign authorities and international organisations to carry out or omit carrying out a specific action.

In general, terrorism often has as its objective to impose a political, economic or religious change of regime. Through their acts, terrorists seek to destroy the fundamental interests and structures of society, and to generate fear and insecurity amongst the population, e.g. through assaults and attacks on civilians. In other words, these are crimes directed against the security and democratic values of the state and the population in general. The effort put into fighting terrorism therefore has a high priority on the national as well as the international scene.

Traditionally, there has been a distinction between national terrorism, state sponsored and international (transnational) terrorism.

The term national terrorism covers actions where citizens of a state direct their acts of terrorism against the authorities, institutions and citizens of that state. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s such actions were carried out by e.g. the German Rote Armee Fraktion and the Red Brigades in Italy. ETA in Spain and fractions of the IRA in Great Britain are examples of nationalist terrorist groups still being active in their respective countries.

State sponsored terrorism is an expression of the phenomenon where a state supports the terrorist organisations or terrorists in order to advance its own national or foreign political interests. It is assumed that state sponsored terrorism was connected to a number of serious terrorist actions against primarily American interests in the 1980s.

Today the major terrorist threat is from international terrorism, particularly due to the terrorist network Al-Qaida’s responsibility for the terrorist actions in the USA in September 2001. It was then clearly demonstrated that international terrorism is carried out through global networks where terrorist cells in many countries and in many ways can participate in the execution of an attack. The terrorist actions in the USA furthermore served to underline the development of international terrorism within the past few years, during which the number of persons killed by terrorist action has increased.

Thus while terrorism is not a new phenomenon over the years it has changed from being primarily a national topic to a global issue with the potential to affect most of the countries in the world to some extent, including Denmark. This means that Denmark is also at risk from terrorist attacks, though traditionally, the terrorist threat against Denmark has been considered small. In this connection it should be mentioned that PET’s focus on terrorism has generally been based on analyses of the risk and the probability of terrorist attacks, rather than focusing on the vulnerability, the latter in principle being infinite in a modern society.

There are persons or circles in Denmark who sympathise with or have links to organisations involved in terrorist activities. It is the objective of PET to monitor any such persons and circles to see whether they are breaking the law or potentially will break the law. The aim is to prevent terrorist activities from being planned and carried out in Denmark, or that Denmark be used as a base for support for the planning or implementation of terrorist activities in other parts of the world.

In this respect, one must bear in mind that the persons and groups involved in terrorist activities often operate within very long time frames. Counter-terrorism is thus a long-term investment in efforts and the investigations may, in many incidences, last for several years. Furthermore, it is the aim of such investigations, where possible, to provide the basis for legal prosecution in accordance with the provisions of the new Danish “anti-terror package”. 

In addition, as regards the more wide-ranging counter-terrorism efforts, it is the objective of the Service to ensure that the many authorities involved in countering terrorism are included in and contribute towards preparing threat and risk assessments.

Another central element in countering terrorism is the co-operation between the immigration authorities and PET with the aim of ensuring that foreigners assumed to pose a threat to the national security are not granted residence in Denmark. This co-operation has been further strengthened in connection with the Danish “anti-terror package”.

Another major element of counter-terrorism is so-called non-proliferation work.

The term non-proliferation covers measures to prevent the uncontrolled spread of products or knowledge to be used in the production of weapons of mass destruction.

Eastern and Middle Eastern countries, among others, are developing advanced weapon systems and in this connection there have been attempts by them to acquire products, technology and know-how from Danish companies and educational institutions.

PET’s contribution in the field of non-proliferation consists of gathering and analysing information, currently being updated, on which countries are active in this field, how these countries work and what type of products they are seeking. This type of work is carried out in close co-operation with other national as well as international authorities.

The results of these investigations and analyses provide the basis for broad efforts to deter. PET has developed a long-standing co-operation with individual companies in the field of export control. Every year, the Service calls on those companies and organisations, which have products, or know-how that can be exploited in connection with the production of weapons of mass destruction. Such visits may be of an informative or deterrent nature.

If PET actually suspects that any person or country is attempting to buy the products of a company – possibly without the company knowing – and that these persons or countries are planning or assumed to use the product in connection with the production of weapons of mass destruction, PET will intervene with the purpose of cutting off the deal, an action that typically takes place without problems.