News report on military intelligence upsets leadership

A feature story published by a leading Finnish language newspaper Helsingin Sanomat about the intelligence operations of the Finnish defense forces has resulted in a strong condemnation from President Sauli Niinistö and Defense Minister Jussi Niinistö.

The story published on Saturday focused on the role of what is known as a signaling experiment unit. The newspaper had obtained highly classified documents about the unit.

The feature concluded the operations of the unit are targeting mainly Russia. One of its duties is to observe any mobilization by Russia in areas close to Finland. The unit also maintains large data bases of information regarding jamming.

Hours after the story was released, Sauli Niinistö said in a statement the action by the newspaper may damage Finland's relations with foreign powers. The president said a police investigation was under way about the way secret documents had been used.

Esa Makinen, managing editor of Helsingin Sanomat, defended the newspaper's publication. He said the decision to stamp something "secret" is comparable to a decision to give someone income support and such a decision should be reviewed.

The managing editor raised the issue whether all the current secrecy is justifiable.

Makinen said that the main aim of the feature story was to bring the unit into public discussion. He said publicity may be "difficult first, but later it usually improves the operation".

He said that as all documents about the unit are secret, the media has to use secret documents if it wants to go beyond what officials say.