Mapping conditions for sharing confidential information between national authorities

This report constitutes the result of a study with the overall aim to identify current conditions for sharing confidential information between national authorities. The primary focus of this study is to bring forward the current state of capabilities and thresholds affecting national interagency cooperation in dealing with serious threats through sharing and coordinating classified information. This effort is carried out through an initial review of relevant regulations setting the framework for the work of the authorities with intelligence and other classified information as well as strategic government documents for the national intelligence system. The analysis and conclusions in this report are furthermore based on interviews and dialogue with representatives from nine authorities. There is a common perception between the authorities of an increasing demand on dynamic and flexible information sharing in order to deal with current threats and security challenges. The authors of this report conclude that current regulations provide a good framework for sharing classified information between authorities but that there exists a range of different factors limiting the abilities to share information in an effective, dynamic and flexible manner, as required by the contemporary trend of escalating security challenges of increasingly complex nature. Some of the most pressing challenges are to develop a joint national information sharing system for classified information, confidence-building measures between intelligence agencies and the broader sector of relevant authorities, better transparency regarding mandates, resources and priorities limiting the ability to share classified information. There is therefore a pressing need for the Swedish government to initiate a comprehensive and in-depth review of how the national intelligence production system can adapt to an increasing demand of information from a broader set of authorities in the current threat environment.