Fra Wamberg til PET-tilsyn: en analyse af den nye danske kontrol med efterretningstjenesterne

Denmark has never before had an explicit law regulating the activities of the Intelligence Services, and the democratic control and oversight instruments have not been reformed for decades. The different Danish governments have explained that important reports from expert Commissions have to be concluded, before any further action could be taken. Therefore the official report no 1519 from the Wendler Pedersen-commission including a new Bill on the Danish Intelligence Services is of crucial interest. This article aims to analyze the new legal framework and the new Oversight Institution in order to figure out whether the reform actually strengthens the existing control of Danish Intelligence Services.
The conclusion is mainly negative regarding this question. The new legal framework is too vague to establish effective boundaries and in some instances it actually widens the power of the Intelligence Service. Besides the new Oversight institution is only granted power to look into a specific part of the activities of Intelligence Services, it only makes random checks and it cannot make binding decisions.