PET in yet another storm

National security cops refuse to protect ex-agent

Domestic intelligence agency PET did little to help former agent Morten Storm when his life was threatened by Islamic militants.

After a video was posted in August in which militants targeted six ”enemies of Islam”, Storm, who was one of those named, sent an email to PET saying he felt his life had been threatened and asking for protection.

After three weeks, PET General Counsel Lykke Sørensen replied that Storm should refer his requests and questions to his local police force and that PET would not be getting involved.

Leaders from all sides of the political spectrum are asking Karen Hækkerup (S), the newly-appointed justice minister, how such a response to a former agent whose life was threatened was possible.

"It is unsatisfactory that the security police take three weeks to answer a former employee who felt – quite justifiably – threatened by Islamic terrorists,” Peter Skaarup, spokesperson for Dansk Folkeparti, told Jyllands-Posten newspaper. “It appears that they just did not care.”

 Skaarup said that Sørensen should step down.

Several of the other people named in the video said PET told them that they had been contacted by the agency after the video was publically released. PET confirmed that they reached out to several people and offered them protection.

Karina Lorentzen  (SF), head of parliament’s legal committee, called PET’s behavior reprehensible.

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“Morten Storm is a highly controversial figure, so it is reasonable to believe that there was someone serious about trying to get at him,” she told Jyllands-Posten.

Storm claimed last year he, while working for PET, helped the CIA track down terrorist leader Anwar al-Awlaki, who was later killed in a US drone attack. 




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