T-kontoret ("T office") was a Swedish intelligence agency active between 1946 and 1965. It was the successor to the C-byrån and predecessor to IB. T-kontoret was headed by Thede Palm.
History
editIn connection with the outbreak of World War II in 1939, a secret intelligence service was established, the G Section (G-sektionen), or the Border Section (Gränssektionen) for surveillance of the Swedish borders and control of migration flows.[1] In 1942 the Defence Staff was heavily reorganized. The coordinators for the intelligence and security service became Section II (from 1966 named Section 2). Section I included the Foreign Department, the Domestic Department and the G Section, which now changed its name to C-byrån or Centralen.[1] In 1946 it was again time for a new reorganization. The Foreign Department had now two subdivisions, the Intelligence and Attaché Offices. C-byrån was disbanded. Operations had become too well known, and its methods had been strongly disputed. A new secret organization was created, T-kontoret, headed by former C-byrån employee, the former librarian at Lund University Library, PhD Thede Palm. The operations were entirely focused on foreign intelligence gathering. For a secret domestic intelligence gathering, Grupp B ("Group B") was organized in 1957, later known as B-kontoret ("B office") within the Domestic Department.[1]
Within the agency a department was created, called Detalj II for east-economic research. To the Detalj II, bankers and economists as Torsten Gårdlund, Lars-Erik Thunholm and Gunnar Dahmén were linked.[2] The operations came from the 1950s to be headed by Jan Rydström, also a former employee of C-byrån. After a schism between Thede Palm and Jan Rydström, Detalj II was split from T-kontoret. The East Economic Agency Foundation (Stiftelsen Öst Ekonomiska Byrån) was established with Jan Rydström as head.[2]
From 1961, the T-kontoret constituted a separate department within the Defence Staff/Section II (Fst/Sekt II), alongside the Domestic Department (Fst/In), the Foreign Department (Fst/U) and Group B (Grupp B).[3] Group B was the unit for domestic intelligence which was formed in 1957-58.[4] In the summer of 1961, the Group B was organizationally separated from the Fst/In and received independent status directly under the chief of Fst/Sekt II.[5] In 1965 the T-kontoret was merged with Group B into a single secret organization known as IB.[6] Palm was fired the year before[7] and head of the merged entity was Birger Elmér, the former head of Group B.[8]
See also
editReferences
editNotes
edit- ^ a b c Wallberg 1998, p. 17
- ^ a b Wallberg 1998, pp. 19–20
- ^ Lampers 2002, p. 167
- ^ Lampers 2002, p. 103
- ^ Lampers 2002, p. 119
- ^ Lampers 2002, p. 22
- ^ Lampers 2002, p. 190
- ^ Lampers 2002, p. 187
Bibliography
edit- Lampers, Lars Olof (2002). Det grå brödraskapet: en berättelse om IB : forskarrapport till Säkerhetstjänstkommissionen. Statens offentliga utredningar, 0375-250X; 2002:92 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. ISBN 91-38-21773-2. SELIBR 8838870. (Part 1) (Part 2)
- Wallberg, Evabritta (1998). "Övervakningssverige eller den svenska rädslan: militär underrättelse- och säkerhetstjänst i hetluften och i arkiven : presentation av en arkivinventering" (PDF). Arkiv, samhälle och forskning (in Swedish) (2). Stockholm: Svenska arkivsamfundet: 19–20. ISSN 0349-0505. SELIBR 9422186.
Further reading
edit- Forsberg, Ronald (2000). T-kontoret under Thede Palm: organisation. uppbyggnad och verksamhet, särskilt under perioden 1946-1951 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Försvarshögskolan. SELIBR 10235666.
- Nilsson, Sam (2013). T-kontoret: underrättelsetjänst och västsamarbete. Publikation / Försvaret och det kalla kriget (FOKK), 1652-5388; 37 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Medström i samarbete med forskningsprojektet Försvaret och det kalla kriget. ISBN 9789173291156. SELIBR 13887623.
- Palm, Thede; Wallberg, Evabritta (1999). Några studier till T-kontorets historia. Handlingar / Kungl. Samfundet för utgivande av handskrifter rörande Skandinaviens historia, 0347-8505; 21 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Kungl. Samf. för utgivande av handskrifter rörande Skandinaviens historia. ISBN 91-85104-24-8. SELIBR 7745565.