The following article from Dagbladet reveals that the Norwegian Defence League was created and nurtured by the Norwegian Security Police (PST). During its early days, three of its six leaders were PST agents, and the man who initiated the creation of the NDL was an agent for multiple organizations — he infiltrated the leadership of “anti-racist” and communist organizations as well.

I can’t help but be reminded of the fact that Stalin was a double agent for the Okhrana, the Czar’s secret intelligence service, before the Bolshevik Revolution. The Okhrana thus unwittingly helped engineer the overthrow of the Russian state.

The PST in effect built the NDL, which Anders Behring Breivik later joined. The NDL then allegedly contributed to Mr. Breivik’s radicalization.

So I guess you might say the PST were “Breivik’s mentors”.

Many thanks to our Norwegian correspondent The Observer for the translation:

Spy-coup despite the lack of approval from the PST

Joined forces with those he was supposed to spy on

Dagbladet has information that confirms that the PST spy Christian Høibø took the initiative to create the anti-Islamic organization the Norwegian Defence League (NDL). Høibø also appointed the leaders of the organization on three separate occasions

The PST spy appointed:

• Håvar Krane as the NDL’s first leader
• Lena Andreassen as the successor
• Recruit Ronny Alte to NDL

A planned ploy

The task of building up an enemy organization was performed by the PST spy Høibø in agreement with SOS Rasisme and the Marxist-Maoists in Tjen Folket (Serve the People).

“It was a assignment that he undertook without our knowing,” says Høibø’s case officer in the PST to Dagbladet.

Høibø reported back to the PST on his role in the NDL and he supplied the PST with inside information. The PST never attempted to stop him. He also supplied information to SOS Rasisme and Tjen Folket.

This information has been confirmed by Bard Frantzen, former member of the leadership of SOS Rasisme and Tjen Folket. Frantzen was unaware of Høibø’s status as a PST agent.

“In my opinion this means that the PST established NDL. Høibø built up the NDL in the period when Breivik joined and became radicalized. In that regard it appears that PST helped build the milieu where Breivik found his inspiration prior to executing the attack. That is pretty bad,” says Frantzen.

Dagbladet has previously reported that Høibø claims that it was he who excluded Anders Behring Breivik from the NDL.

NDL was founded at Lorry (bar in downtown Oslo)

The establishment of the NDL began at Lorry in 2010. The first meeting was initiated by Høibø. Present at the meeting were the PST agent and two members of SOS Rasisme.

Høibø told Frantzen that the poorly organized NDL Facebook network with approximately 500 members could be built into a functioning organization.

“I was one of those present at Lorry that day. Høibø’s plan was to establish a solid organizational structure, a workable membership register, and organize right-wing demonstrations,” says Frantzen.

“I was negative about the plans, because the methods that Høibø proposed were dangerous and could cause great damage to the anti-racist work.”

Asked to step aside

The plan, however, was put into action as several others members of SOS Rasisme supported it, says Franzen.

“It was a plan that he undertook without our initial knowledge. When we eventually found out about it, it was our opinion that he shouldn’t have such a prominent position in an organization like the NDL. We asked him to step aside,” says Høibøs case officer to Dagbladet.

But Høibø didn’t step aside. Instead he remained as the political leader of the NDL. He was not alone.

Three of the six people in the leadership of the NDL were Høibø’s accomplices.

Triple access

An organizational chart made by Høibø shows that Jon Hagen and ‘Sigve Ås’ are positioned alongside him in the top management. Hagen is Høibøs friend and, like Høibø, he also reported to the PST. Sigve Ås is the pseudonym of a prominent representative of SOS Rasisme.

“It became a challenge for us,” says Høibø’s case officer

In essence Høibø had access to current information for the PST in three different camps: he had his feet planted inside the Tjen Folket dominated SOS Rasisme, which meant that he could follow the activities of both Communists and anti-racists. The infiltration of the NDL gave Høibø access to information about the anti-Islamic extremist milieu.

It is also established that PST used Høibø to follow the activities of the communists in the organization Internationale Sosialister (IS).

As a result, on several occasions Høibø had himself established communities and organized events from which he could report back to the PST.

New threat

From the time the infiltration of the Facebook network began in 2010 until the summer of 2011, the NDL evolved itself from being a little-known group of hateful anti-Islamists and neo-Nazis to a new threat for the PST.

The PST was simultaneously fully aware of Høibø’s role as the driving force of the NDL.

In February 2011, the NDL was for the first time mentioned in PST’s annual threat report. The organization received extensive media coverage as a result

In March 2011 PST went on record saying that they feared that the NDL could become a violent organization.

“I feared that such an operation could strengthen the extreme right more than it would weaken it. The possibility that the NDL could evolve into a large and independent unit that we couldn’t control anymore was a real scenario. Today I know that the plan was right,” says Frantzen.

“Wrote NDL speech”

According to the former NDL leader Lena Andreassen and emails that Dagbladet have copies of, it was the PST infiltrator who wrote the speech she delivered during NDL’s controversial demonstration on Kontraskjæret in Oslo on April 9, 2011.

“It was Christian Høibø who wrote and sent me the speech that I held at the demonstration. I found the message of the speech to be quite radical, but I didn’t know quite what to say,” Andreassen previously stated to Dagbladet.

The rally was such a big flop that the leaders of the British EDL removed Andreassen as the NDL leader a few days later.

There’s an English-language article on the same topic at News From Norway.