The delicate case of Denmark in world intelligence politics

On the one hand the official Danish narrative is that it is a staunch advocate for an ever-intensifying European cooperation in the EU. On the other, Denmark’s main intelligence partner has for decades been the US. 

In 2021 it was even revealed that the long-lasting Danish-US SIGINT cooperation among others targeted friendly European governments, including the Chancellor of Denmark’s most important trade partner Germany, Angela Merkel.

Apparently, this ‘serving two masters’ foreign policy has not been a problem. But in a situation where the US suddenly starts trade wars against its most loyal allies, promote far right-wing regime change in Europe and threatens to conquer a big part of the Danish kingdom things become much more complicated. For how long can Denmark continue exchanging large amounts of raw intelligence on friends and foes to a purely transactional super power banana republic?

Questions like this come to mind when you read the latest piece by the Director of Center for Cold War Studies, University of Southern Denmark, and Executive Director of the International Intelligence History Association, Associate Professor Thomas Wegener Friis. His aim though is fore and foremost to discuss the mechanisms of asymmetric international intelligence cooperation between a small state actor and a superpower in a historical perspective. 

In particular, he confronts the publicly widespread understanding of the existence of a simple “quid pro quo” intelligence trade. Instead, he sees parallels to the Soviet-GDR relationship and even the Germanic tribes’ offerings of auxiliaries to the Romans for “good life at its [the empire’s] borders”. 

(Source: https://www.electrospaces.net/2020/11/via-cable-in-denmark-nsa-tried-to-spy.html)

The point is that state intelligence is part of a country’s foreign policy, perhaps even the most important part. Therefore, if the US turns into an adversary the main intelligence stream from Denmark will be redirected back to mainland Europe, no matter how confusing it may seem after more than 80 years of increasingly closer intelligence cooperation across the North Sea and the Atlantic.

Jesper Jørgensen, PhD Research Fellow, Center for Cold War Studies, University of Southern Denmark, Archivist at The Workers Museum, Copenhagen.