Today, Friday, 6 February, Beate Gangås presented PST’s annual National Threat Assessment. She stated that Norway is facing the most serious security policy situation since the Second World War.
This is the foreword by the Director General Beate Gangåsof the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST), in the National Threat Assessment (NTA) 2026, published today.
PST’s mandate is to understand, communicate, and counter the most serious threats to the state’s security. In the National Threat Assessment, we describe the threats that we believe will be most prominent in 2026.
Together with the Norwegian Intelligence Service’s Focus, and the National Security Authority’s Risk, our national unclassified threat assessment contributes to providing society and the public with a shared situational awareness.
At a time when foreign states are conducting intelligence operations and employing hybrid means in Norway to undermine our resilience, preventive security measures, intelligence, and situational understanding are of critical importance.
The terrorist threat landscape is more fragmented and complex than before. This is underscored by the fact that state actors may attempt to carry out terrorist attacks in Norway through proxy actors. Such methods make it more challenging to detect potential terrorist activities.
The most serious terrorist threat continues to originate from extreme Islamist and right-wing extremist actors.
We also observe that anti-state attitudes contribute to radicalisation. The degree of ideological commitment varies, and for some individuals, fascination with violence may serve as the entry point into extremism rather than the result of it.
The digital domain remains the primary arena for radicalisation, and online platforms facilitate cross-border connections. We expect the negative trend involving minors and young people being radicalised to persist.
Preventing extremism and safeguarding democracy requires the commitment and cooperation of many actors. I would like to thank all those who have worked with PST to prevent serious threats.
We must all remain vigilant and aware that such threats may occur in our own daily lives.
Public trust is of vital importance to PST, and we encourage people to contact us whenever they have concerns.
In 2025, PST achieved its highest ranking ever in a public sector reputation survey conducted by Ipsos.
We are determined to prove ourselves worthy of that trust. It is our responsibility to clarify whether a genuine threat exists, and PST’s employees take this responsibility very seriously.
PST describes a serious threat landscape. We aim to provide as concrete information as possible, within the limitations imposed by the need to protect classified information. Transparency is important to PST.
Threats do not disappear if they are not discussed. On the contrary, they may then develop undisturbed.
A shared situational awareness makes us more resilient in an uncertain time.