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Demokratiskolan
The National security card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 75 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaSafety & defense
  • Centre of gravityCentral government
  • Points of influence2 on the journey
  • Decisive electionThe general election
Safety & defense

National security

Battling terrorism, sabotage & threats to the nation

National security is about the threats to Sweden as a country: terrorism, sabotage, espionage and attacks on what keeps society running. The decisions are the central government's, but the critical infrastructure to be protected, the water, the power, the healthcare, is often owned by your municipality (kommun) and your region.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · protecting local infrastructure · approx 5 %
  • Region · protecting healthcare · approx 5 %
  • State · strategy, security service & defense · approx 85 %
  • EU · sanctions & crisis support · approx 5 %

National security is steered from the Government Offices and the Riksdag, but partly defended in municipal waterworks and regional hospitals.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityThe infrastructure
The regionHealthcare as a target
Central governmentThe strategy · centre of gravity
Who decides?
The municipal executive board (kommunstyrelsen) and the protective security manager, plus the municipal companies for water, energy and ports.
The regional executive board and the region's security and preparedness functions.
The Government with a national security strategy, the Security Service (Säkerhetspolisen), the Swedish Armed Forces, MSB and the Police.
What do they decide?
Protect socially important activity against sabotage and intrusion: waterworks, heating plants, IT systems, ports.
Hospital operations, medical record systems and medicine supply must withstand sabotage, cyber attacks and crisis.
Counter-terrorism, counter-espionage, cyber defense, protective legislation and the overall assessment of the threats to Sweden.
Where are decisions made?
In protective security analyses and continuity plans, often without public details.
In the region's protective security and preparedness work.
In the Government's strategy, the Riksdag's laws and the agencies' often secret operational work.
Who pays?
Municipal tax and the fees: the protection of its own facilities.
Regional tax plus central government preparedness funds.
The central government budget.
Fastest way in?
The municipal election Ask how the municipality protects water and power. Your own home preparedness eases the load on the system.
The regional election The regional election steers healthcare's resilience, a quiet but decisive security matter.
The general election The general election steers security policy. Tips about suspicious activity are received by the police and the Security Service.
EUThe EU decides sanctions jointly, sets security requirements on networks and energy systems and coordinates support in case of major attacks. Shaped in the European Parliament election.

Read the table by column to understand one level, or by row to compare the levels. The green level is the area's centre of gravity.

How it works: follow the decision

The case Sabotage against the drinking water is averted
  1. State

    The threat picture is drawn nationally

    The Security Service and the defense intelligence services continuously assess the threats to Sweden. The assessment steers which activities are classified as security-sensitive, the drinking water among them.

  2. State

    The laws point out the responsibility

    The protective security act applies to everyone who runs security-sensitive activity, including municipalities. The Riksdag has also tightened the sentences for sabotage against socially important activity.

    Point of influence

    The general election steers protective legislation, and the legislative proposals go out on open referral.

  3. Municipality

    The waterworks is secured locally

    The municipality's water company makes a protective security analysis, limits access, secures the control systems and trains. A suspected intrusion attempt is detected and reported.

    Point of influence

    The municipal election steers the ambition in the local protection. Do ask, but do not expect details: some secrecy is part of the protection.

  4. State

    The Security Service and the police investigate

    The intrusion attempt is investigated as possible sabotage. The traces point abroad, and the intelligence services are brought in together with MSB's cybersecurity support.

  5. EU

    Sweden does not respond alone

    If state involvement is confirmed, the EU countries can decide on joint sanctions, and the experience is shared so that other countries' waterworks are secured against the same method.

  6. Your everyday life

    The water from the tap, as usual

    A successful defense is not noticed at all: the water comes as it always has. MSB's advice about a week of home preparedness, water, food and heat, is your own part of the national resilience.

The journey looks the same in reverse: what has been built came the same way, through the same decisions. Whoever knows where the decisions are made also knows where they can be changed.

Questions to discuss

  1. What do you count as a threat to Sweden today, and has it changed in recent years?

  2. How much secrecy can a democracy bear in the name of national security?

  3. Waterworks and hospitals are both everyday services and security objects. Should they be governed more nationally, or still locally?

  4. What role do you yourself play in the country's resilience, beyond having water in the basement?

  5. Who should decide when a threat is big enough to restrict everyday life: experts, the Government or the Riksdag?

Glossary

Nationell säkerhetsstrategi
The Government's overall document on the threats to Sweden and how they are to be met.
Säkerhetskänslig verksamhet
Activity of importance to Sweden's security, covered by the protective security act.
Sabotage
Deliberate damage to facilities or functions that society needs.
Cyberangrepp
IT attacks against systems and data, one of the most common tools against critical infrastructure.
Motståndskraft
Society's ability to withstand and recover from attacks and crises.
Hemberedskap
What you have at home to manage a week without society's support, according to MSB's advice.

Go further

Footnotes

1) This is an estimate of how decision-making power over the issue is split between the municipality, the region, central government and the EU, based on how responsibility is divided in legislation. A teaching guide, not an exact measurement.