The Swedish government said on Tuesday that it will move forward with a plan to create a new intelligence agency to target overseas threats, part of a wider overhaul spurred by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The new agency will be called Sweden’s foreign intelligence service (UND) and will begin work in January 2027, Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told a press conference.
“During the ongoing war in Ukraine, it has become clear that the advantage of information and the ability to adapt various technical systems quickly and continuously is as important as advanced weapons systems,” Stenergard told reporters, adding the new service will be compared to Britain’s MI6.
Sweden it already has a military intelligence service – called the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST) – responsible for foreign threats as well as the non-military Swedish Security Service (Sapo) which focuses on domestic threats.
Stenergard said the new service would take over some of MUST’s duties, and work closely with the Swedish Armed Forces and Sapo, as well as the National Defense Radio Establishment, which is responsible for signals intelligence.
The Nordic country broke with two centuries of non-militarism and joined Nato following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Stenergard noted that as Sweden’s partner it faced “new expectations”.
