Defence Minister Tore Sandvik (Labour) is invoking national security and has brought the Centre Party on board in order to limit what kind of information the Epstein Commission is to receive from the Intelligence Service.

There is more behind this, and probably more than merely the fact that the Labour Party leadership seeks to shield itself from the public’s unpleasant scrutiny of their careless handling of elementary rules concerning conflicts of interest and corruption, and of taxpayers’ money.

The reference to national security is, of course, pure nonsense, since all members of the commission of inquiry must in any case obtain security clearance and handle the information they gain access to in accordance with the Security Act.

Everything indicates that the Norwegian Intelligence Service has had an agent on the inside at IPI, most likely Camilla Reksten-Monsen, Terje Rød-Larsen’s assistant and closest associate for ten years.

That means the Intelligence Service and Norwegian authorities have at all times known what TRL has been engaged in, and knowingly and deliberately allowed him for years to continue cultivating the close connections to Epstein and his kompromat operations.

If the Intelligence Service has had an agent in New York, that would have been in consultation with the FBI, cf. the Treholt case. That may explain why the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not proceed further with the whistleblower case in 2019. Ine Eriksen Søreide, who was then Minister of Foreign Affairs, forwarded it to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who sent it to the FBI in New York, which closed the case without taking any further action, most likely in order to continue the surveillance of TRL/Epstein.

The FBI, which is responsible for counterintelligence on American soil, most likely had an intelligence operation underway against Epstein, and not merely a morality case. If so, the pieces fall into place, probably together with the many indications pointing towards the Israeli Mossad being behind Epstein’s operations.

What we are probably seeing the outlines of here is an intelligence operation in which the Norwegian Intelligence Service has assisted the FBI with intelligence concerning Epstein’s operations through the close connections between Terje Rød-Larsen and Epstein, without Rød-Larsen’s knowledge.

These are still unconfirmed speculations, but a pattern is beginning to emerge if one draws a line between the circumstances we are already familiar with.

If so, the Norwegian Intelligence Service has knowingly and deliberately contributed to both the foreign service, the Nobel Institute and the Royal Household being compromised through Epstein’s operations, and to Norway’s reputation abroad now being dragged through the mud.

If so, the Norwegian Intelligence Service has a great deal to answer for!

But whether it will answer for anything at all is probably less likely now that the government is placing a lid on the matter.

To crown it all, Grete Faremo (Labour) has been appointed head of the EOS Committee. The EOS Committee is, among other things, tasked with monitoring and ensuring that the Intelligence Service follows the guidelines governing its activities.

This is the same Grete Faremo who was dismissed as Minister of Justice in the Jagland government in 1996 for having conducted illegal surveillance (!) of Berge Furre.

The same Grete Faremo who was dismissed from the UN in 2022 because of financial mismanagement and gross dereliction of duty as head of UNOPS. Between NOK 250 and 550 million is alleged to have been squandered under her leadership. The case is still under investigation.

One can become paranoid over less. But as a paranoid acquaintance once convincingly established: It is possible to be persecuted even if one is paranoid.