Trond Johansen
  Trond Johansen    (spook, deep state actor) | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 13 May 1924 |
| Nationality | Norwegian |
| Spouse | Grethe Johansen |
| Interests | Norway/Deep state |
| Party | Norwegian Labour Party |
Spook and central deep state actor in Norway for more than 5 decades. | |
Trond Ivar Johansen is a former assistant director of the Armed Forces' intelligence staff and a central deep state actor for at least five decades after World War 2.
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Early Years and World War 2
Trond Johansen grew up in a poverty in the city of Drammen and has no formal education.
He began his intelligence work for XU in Drammen during World War II. He has been characterized as "XU's best agent in Drammen". When his life was in danger in 1945 due to arrests in the Drammen area, it was specifically mentioned in a letter from the Defense Command's intelligence office in Stockholm: "You must make every effort to get him ready, he is the best source in the whole country. ..we must not lose him at any cost».[1] Johansen escaped to officially neutral Sweden in March 1945.
After the war, he was brought in to build up the Armed Forces' intelligence service. He is described as professionally "very skilled, knowledgeable with a broad outlook and a secure political judgment - unlike the attitude that otherwise often characterizes the people in the secret services ...".[2] He has been described as "charming and with his own ability to direct the conversations where he wants"[2], a picture that is complemented by the description of an "icy, if necessary hard and cynical intelligence officer who can use raw power to achieve his goals»[2].
He was also part of the Independent Norwegian Brigade Group in Germany, under British command, and later at the embassy in Bonn.
In 1958, Trond Johansen returned from his service in Germany as a liaison officer to General Reinhard Gehlen's German intelligence apparatus (the Gehlen organization, which later became the Federal Intelligence Service under Gehlen's leadership). He had then spent four years "learning" from Gehlen about how to conduct intelligence work and build up an intelligence organization, among other things by means of establishing front companies, in addition to establishing relations to other organizations and institutions one could have more or less control over and benefit from. On his return home, he was promoted to major by Vilhelm Evang without any military education, only 34 years old. The following year, the Storting made a decision on the establishment of the Norwegian Institute of Foreign Policy (NUPI).[3]
A leading figure in the Norwegian Intelligence Service
He was the head of the section in the miltiary Norwegian Intelligence Service staff that was responsible for collecting so-called "human intelligence". During his tenure, he was offically subordinate to the following bosses: Vilhelm Evang, who resigned in 1966, Johan Berg, Reidar Torp, Sven Hauge, Fredrik Bull-Hansen, Jan Ingebrigtsen, Egil Eikanger and finally Olav Bjerke.
A number of allegations of improper conduct have been made about Trond Johansen. Some of them was tenuously considered by the 1994 parliamentary Lund Commission, which concluded as follows: "The Commission has not found a basis for the allegations".
Johansen has a strong network in all important sectors of society, including the media, politics, armed forces, the intelligence services, police, business and others. Even in the 2010s, people who criticize him often find themselves a target negative press coverage.
As part of Johansens network of friends are Knut Frydenlund and Thorvald Stoltenberg, father of Jens Stoltenberg.
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