The Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

: Suojelupoliisi, abbreviated Supo, Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

: Skyddspolisen) is the intelligence agency

Intelligence agency

An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...

 of Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 in charge of national security

National security

National security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the state through the use of economic, diplomacy, power projection and political power. The concept developed mostly in the United States of America after World War II...

. The agency's staff is composed of 220 policemen with additional training. It specializes in preventing security threats and participates in protecting the parliamentary democracy as well as protecting the nation's security interests. Formerly Finnish Security Police, on August 27, 2010, the agency changed its English name thereby removing the word police. This was done to mark the continuing change of the agency's mission away from the area of traditional police responsibilities, towards international security intelligence duties.

Supo was formed in 1949 to replace its predecessor, Valtiollinen poliisi

Valtiollinen Poliisi

Valtiollinen poliisi was the predecessor of the Finnish Security Intelligence Service.- Etsivä keskuspoliisi :...

 ("State Police"). In the aftermath of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the leadership positions of Valpo had been filled by communists, and some of its activities were found erroneous and illegal by an investigation committee. Valpo's predecessor was Etsivä keskuspoliisi, which was very effective in counter-intelligence and infiltration of communist organizations. It was formed from the passport bureau of the General Staff in 1919.

The bureau's central duties include counter-terrorism

Counter-terrorism

Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...

, counter-intelligence

Counter-intelligence

Counterintelligence or counter-intelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of...

, preventing internal security threats within the nation, pre-emptive security work and guard work. It also participates in cracking down on international crime and provides expert services for industrial counterintelligence and personal background checks. For example, refugees are investigated by Supo to determine whether or not they are under persecution in their home country, and Finnish corporations may request assistance in the prevention of industrial espionage.

Supo does not have special tactical units. These duties are handled by the Karhu Team, the special duties unit of the Finnish police. Until 1989, Supo did not even have all police powers such as the power to start investigations; in a case that would require prosecution, they were required to request assistance from Keskusrikospoliisi

Keskusrikospoliisi

Keskusrikospoliisi located in the city of Vantaa is a division of Finland's national police. Literally Keskusrikospoliisi/Centralkriminalpolisen would be translated as "Central Criminal Police", which might be a more descriptive name for the entity, as its primary mission is to fight against...

. The right to arrest and investigate was granted in 1989.