Embassy Security

November 6, 2010

The U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, like other U.S. embassies, does have a program to detect suspicious activities around our facilities as part of normal security precautions to ensure the safety of our staff and guests.

We regret that inflammatory and inaccurate press reporting which began in Norway about this program has caused unease and concern among some of our friends.

The Embassy’s Surveillance Detection Unit is exactly what its title states: a program designed to detect surveillance against U.S. posts overseas. It is not a secret program, nor is it an intelligence program. It emerged from the lessons of such horrific terrorist attacks as the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam embassy bombings in 1998, in which our missions had been under hostile surveillance by the terrorists for some time before the attacks. Unfortunately, this surveillance was not detected. Hundreds of innocent civilians were murdered in those terrible events. As we have learned from recent events throughout Europe, including Scandinavia, no nation is immune from terrorist threats.

The United States fully respects Swedish law, and welcomes Justice Minister Ask’s remarks at her press conference. The U.S. stands ready to answer any questions the Government of Sweden might ask us on this program.