The Arctic identified as a security risk

A new Norwegian security guide for academia was recently sent out for consultation.

Sikresiden Sikresiden The guide has been prepared by the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir) and the information channel Sikresiden, and concerns security in the recruitment and follow-up of personnel in the university and university college sector (the higher education sector).

The guide sets out that universities and research communities should work more systematically with risk linked to employees, partners and international collaboration. It is justified by an increased risk of foreign intelligence activity, technology transfer and influence over Norwegian research.

New consultation deadline

The security guide was originally sent out for consultation in April, with a consultation deadline of 7 May.

The directorate was criticised for both the content, the short consultation period and the fact that the trade unions were not consultation bodies.

The content is unchanged, but the consultation letter has now been sent out to more recipients and the consultation deadline has been set significantly further ahead, namely 15 September, the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills informs.

The Directorate writes that the target group for the guide is primarily those who are to develop and facilitate comprehensive and systematic work on personnel security, and that the guide has been developed as an extension of the Guidelines for responsible international cooperation, and that its use is voluntary.

"The purpose of the guide is to facilitate a common approach to the assessments that must be made in the area of personnel security in the higher education sector. Adequate personnel security is a prerequisite for free and open research, and openness presupposes that institutions have good routines for assessing and managing risk," the Directorate further writes. 

Security policy frontline

The guide lists research, development, and information that may involve significant security considerations, with the High North, the Arctic and Svalbard explicitly identified.

The guide also mentions research on the sea, the seabed, the coast, satellite technology, military activity, dual-use technology and infrastructure in outer space, topics that all have extensive coverage in the north.

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In addition, Arctic research is highly international. Research communities in the north work closely with, among others, researchers from across the Arctic, including Russia and the United States, as well as EU countries and China.

In practice, the guidance may entail more thorough background checks in recruitment, including credit checks, greater assessment of researchers' 'country affiliations' and financial ties, stricter control of access to laboratories, databases and satellite data, and greater caution around collaboration with certain countries or institutions.

The universities in the Arctic

The Director of Administration at UiT The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, Jørgen Fossland, writes to High North News that the guidance "does not entail any new requirements or provisions for UiT or others in our sector" and that "it is merely an attempt to summarise and provide advice regarding the follow-up of already existing provisions."

The university is home to many Arctic research centres and research groups, such as the Centre for the Ocean and the Arctic and the Centre for Geopolitics, Peace, and Security.

Earlier this year, Nord University in Bodø began work on a value mapping exercise, carried out by the company Agenda Risk, which identified three centres at the university as particularly vulnerable in terms of the risk of foreign intelligence: the High North Centre, Nordlab and the Centre for High North Logistics (CHNL).

All three centres work on topics that are now specifically highlighted as security risks in the draft of the new security guidance.