Editing Swedish Security Service (section)

== History ==
[[File:Adlercreutz4.jpeg|thumb|150px|left|Lt Col [[Carlos Adlercreutz|Adlercreutz]], credited with the formation of the General Security Service in 1938]]
The origins of the Swedish Security Service is often linked to the establishment of a special police bureau ({{lang|sv|Polisbyrån}}) during the [[First World War]] in 1914, which reported directly to the [[General Staff (Sweden)|General Staff]], predecessor of the Office for the [[Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces|Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces]].{{sfn|Nationalencyklopedin 1989}}{{sfn|Swedish Security Service 2014|pp=7, 9}} The bureau's main mission was protecting national security (e.g. counter-espionage), and its first chief was Captain [[Erik af Edholm]].{{sfn|Swedish Security Service 2014|pp=7, 9}} Operations shut down after the end of the war in 1918, although some intelligence activities carried on at the Stockholm police, managed by a small group of approximately ten police officers led by Chief Superintendent [[Eric Hallgren]], who later was to become the first chief of the General Security Service ({{lang|sv|Allmänna säkerhetstjänsten}}).{{sfn|Nationalencyklopedin 1989}}{{sfn|Swedish Security Service 2014|pp=7, 10, 15}} Operations were mainly focused on monitoring [[communist]]s from the start of the war until the early 1930s when the service also began to focus on [[Nazis]].{{sfn|Swedish Security Service 2014|pp=9–12}}

In 1932, operations were transferred to the newly formed State Police ({{lang|sv|statspolisen}}).{{sfn|Nationalencyklopedin 1989}} The group of officers working at the State Police did not have the means to monitor phone calls or to intercept and open mail. This, and the general lack of staff and financial resources worried the chief of Sweden's military intelligence, Lieutenant-Colonel [[Carlos Adlercreutz]], who felt the country needed a more powerful security agency if Europe once again ended up in war. Thus, in 1938 the General Security Service was formed, following an initiative by Adlercreutz and [[Ernst Leche]] at the [[Ministry of Justice (Sweden)|Ministry of Justice]], among others.{{sfn|Swedish Security Service 2014|pp=15–16}} The entire organisation and its activities were top-secret. During the [[Second World War]] the agency monitored about 25,000 phone calls and intercepted over 200,000 letters every week.{{sfn|Swedish Security Service 2014|pp=16–18}} In 1946, following a [[End of World War II in Europe|post-war]] parliamentary evaluation, operations were significantly reduced and once again organized under the State Police, mainly tasked with counter-espionage.{{sfn|Nationalencyklopedin 1989}}{{sfn|Swedish Security Service 2014|pp=7, 19}} In 1965, the Swedish police was nationalized, and all work was organized under the [[National Police Board]] in the Department of Security ({{lang|sv|Rikspolisstyrelsens säkerhetsavdelning}}, abbreviated {{lang|sv|italic=unset|RPS/SÄK}}).{{sfn|Swedish Security Service 2014|p=5}}{{sfn|Grahn|2013}}
[[File:Stig.Wennerstrom.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Stig Wennerström, convicted Soviet spy, {{nowrap|c. 1960}}]]
The period between 1939 and 1945 was marked by extensive foreign intelligence activity in Sweden, resulting in the arrest of numerous spies and enemy agents. Some of the most notorious post-war spies are [[Fritiof Enbom]], [[Hilding Andersson]], [[Stig Wennerström (spy)|Stig Wennerström]] and [[Stig Bergling]]. In all of these cases the spying was done on behalf of the [[Soviet Union]] and the spies were convicted to [[Penal labor|lifetime of penal labour]], the supreme penalty under civilian law. All were, however, pardoned after roughly ten years.{{sfn|Nationalencyklopedin 1989}}{{efn|Life imprisonment for Bergling, who escaped, returned voluntarily, and served a total of 11 years before released.}}

In the early 1970s, Sweden was rocked by a number of terrorist acts perpetrated by [[Croatian National Resistance|Croatian separatists]]. Some of the most significant cases were the [[1971 Yugoslav Embassy shooting|1971 Yugoslavian embassy attack in Stockholm]] and the hijacking of [[Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 130]] a year later.{{sfn|Forsberg|2003|loc=Bilaga 1}} The inception of the first Terrorist Act in 1973 was an immediate policy upshot of this, which among other things gave the police the right to deport people affiliated with terrorist organizations without delay. These incidents also led to internal changes within the Department of Security, which received more resources.{{sfn|Swedish Security Service 2014|pp=5, 35, 40}}{{sfn|Hansén|2007|pp=47–48, 175, 178}} On 28 February 1986, [[Prime Minister of Sweden|Prime Minister]] [[Assassination of Olof Palme|Olof Palme was assassinated]] by an unknown gunman. The Department was not widely criticized, partly because Palme himself had declined protection on the night of the murder.{{sfn|Hansén|2007|p=163}} It nevertheless sparked the resignation of the [[National Police Commissioner (Sweden)|National Police Commissioner]] [[Nils Erik Åhmansson]] and the head of the Department, [[Sune Sandström]], following the revelation of the [[Ebbe Carlsson affair]] in 1988.{{sfn|Isaksson|2007}}

The Swedish Security Service was established on 1 October 1989, on the recommendations put forward by a Government committee tasked with evaluating the Department of Security following the assassination of Palme.{{sfn|Forsberg|2003|p=18}} The new agency was—although still formally a part of the National Police Board—more independent, with its own Director-General and political oversight also increased.{{sfn|Swedish Security Service 2013|p=12}}{{sfn|Swedish Security Service 2014|p=47}}{{sfn|Hansén|2007|pp=89–90, 178}} Furthermore, the Service took over the formal responsibility for all close protection tasks, which was previously shared with the National Police Board and the Stockholm County Police.{{sfn|Swedish Security Service 2014|p=47}}{{sfn|Hansén|2007|p=87}} On 10 September 2003, [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Sweden)|Minister for Foreign Affairs]] [[Anna Lindh]] was assassinated by [[Mijailo Mijailović]], who was arrested two weeks later. The Government reviewed its procedures in the wake of the Lindh killing,{{sfn|SOU 2004:108}} which led to the doubling of the number of close-protection officers.{{sfn|Swedish Security Service 2015, 'Livvakter'}} On 1 January 2015, the police reorganized again into a unified agency, with the Swedish Security Service becoming a fully independent agency.{{sfn|Swedish Ministry of Justice 2015}}