Norway: No Smiles for a Top Spy

Former Diplomat, Politician and Journalist Arne Treholt, 42, was grinning last week as he entered Room 23 of the Oslo courthouse. But by the time Judge Astri Rynning finished speaking, the smile had vanished. After a 17-week trial, a panel of judges found Treholt guilty of spying for the Soviet Union and Iraq. Among the vital secrets he is believed to have passed along in ten years as an undercover agent for the KGB: details of NATO strategy and military contingency plans, alliance intelligence documents on troubled areas and Norwegian government confidential memos on meetings with world leaders. "Treholt has caused irreparable damage to the Norwegian defense," said Fredrik Bull-Hansen, Norway's Chief of Defense.

Treholt, then head of the Foreign Ministry's press office, was arrested in 1984 in Oslo just before boarding a plane for Vienna and an alleged meeting with a KGB general. He was carrying a briefcase crammed with 65 classified documents. "I wanted to arrange better relations betweeen East and West," he said, "but that does not make me a spy." The Norwegian court disagreed and sentenced him to a maximum 20 years in prison.