In recent years, we have seen several examples of interference activities in the West. These have often occurred in connection with elections, but interference attempts have also been made by foreign intelligence services in other contexts.
So far, PET and the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) have not detected any foreign state interference activity in connection with elections in Denmark.
However, as mentioned there are several examples of attempts to interfere in democratic elections abroad. In December 2023, for example, British and American authorities accused Russian hackers of hacking a British think tank and subsequently leaking stolen information (a so-called ‘hack and leak’ attack). According to the authorities, the hackers were affiliated with FSB, the national security service of Russia, and the purpose was to influence the 2019 British general election.
Only two days before the 2017 presidential election, France was similarly the target of a ‘hack and leak’ operation. More than 20,000 emails from the campaign of presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron were leaked. The leak spread quickly through platforms such as 4chan and Twitter, along with claims that the many emails showed that the Macron campaign was involved in various criminal activities. However, the Macron campaign revealed that GRU, the Russian military intelligence service, had attempted to hack its systems for months, and the leak did not prevent Macron from winning the election.
Conflict and polarization
The purpose of a foreign intelligence service’s interference activity in Denmark would typically be to build support for the policies of its government or to damage the cohesion of Denmark, the Danish Realm or international cooperation forums. Interference activity often aims to exploit existing differences in public opinion that offer potential for creating conflict and polarization.
The Danish Realm may be particularly vulnerable to foreign interference if Chinese or Russian intelligence services successfully exploit controversial issues and internal disagreements to create tension in or between the three parts of the Danish Realm or to complicate relations with our allies, especially the United States.
PET is actively engaged in building resilience to foreign interference and in uncovering and countering the threat from foreign intelligence services attempting to influence public opinion and the political decision-making process in Denmark and the Danish Realm. For example, PET offers advisory services to relevant actors in connection with large events such as referendums and elections.
In addition, PET is part of a cross-ministerial task force on foreign interference, where a number of government agencies collaborate to detect and prevent foreign interference, including attempts to influence elections in Denmark and the Danish Realm.