Parliament’s Administration Committee is considering a statement tabled by Finland’s security and intelligence police Supo, in which the agency warns of dramatic consequences if its funding is not secured.
The statement references the government’s draft budget for next year, in which projected spending cuts targeting the police force are expected to have the effect of reversing planned additional funding for Supo, amounting to two million euros annually from 20017 to 2020.
Borrowing from Defence Force playbook
The statement was signed by Supo chief Antti Pelttari, and conformed to years of budget tactics as practiced by the Defence Forces. However instead of asking the question, "What part of the country should we not defend?" Supo laid out specific individual programmes that could face the chopping block if the agency were under-funded.
The agency also pointed to the constantly-changing external environment as a rationale for its financing requirements. In short, Supo would not settle for the so-called "cheese cutter" approach that would shave resources from all of its operations.
"An even reduction of resources from every unit [the so-called cheese cutter] would in practice lead to a significant weakening of the agency’s performance capability,” the statement observed.
Across-the-board cuts or shutter individual units?
Supo said that one alternative to agency-wide cuts would be to eliminate selected programmes – but that would have dire consequences, it warned.
"Shutting down the anti-terrorism unit would mean giving up receiving intelligence or acquiring information about target individuals."
On the other hand abandoning counter-intelligence activities could mean putting an end to monitoring foreign intelligence services. Supo alsoa rgued that it would not be rational to shutter its security and territorial unit.
"Ending the activities of the security and territorial unit could mean terminating the presence of agency personnel in certain parts of the country or giving up information gathering on extreme movements."
