Talking to NRK, Spokesperson for the American Foreign Policy Department, Philip Crowley said he did not know about the surveillance activities from an apartment outside the embassy building in Oslo.
– Everything we do is in accordance with the agreements we have with any country in the world, including Norway, “said Crowley.
Crowley replied to the NRK reporter's question regarding the reason why they have rented a building outside the U.S. embassy in Norway – where the former Norwegian police and military members have stayed by telling that the question must be asked at the embassy and he can not answer that.
Crowley also said that the U.S.A. has close ties with the Norwegian government and shares information and denied that the Norwegian authorities did not know the surveillance activity that is associated with the U.S. Embassy in Oslo.
About the Case
Norwegian television, TV2 revelaed that American intelligence organization was watching a few hundred Norwegians. Norwegian politicians said they do not know anything about it.
For more than ten years, the American intelligence organization “Surveillance Detection Unit” (SDU) has created such groups in several countries around the world. The organization has acted also in Oslo. Its task was to prevent terrorist attacks against the U.S. Embassy and the residence of U.S. Ambassador to Norway. SDU staff were located in a room on the top floor (in Handelsbygningen), located near the U.S. embassy. The group consisted of 15-20 people, and officers conducted surveillance around the clock. Several members of the group were Norwegians, who previously employed by the security police or army units of Norway.
