Ørnulf Tofte

Ørnulf Tofte (born 12 February 1922) is a retired Norwegian police officer who was a major figure in the Norwegian intelligence service during much of the Cold War. He served as Assistant Chief of Police and head of counter-intelligence in the Police Surveillance Agency. Tofte uncovered several illegal Soviet spies and personally arrested the Soviet spies Asbjørn Sunde, Gunvor Galtung Haavik and Arne Treholt.[1] Tofte has been widely recognized for his role during the Cold War, and received the King's Medal of Merit in Gold in 1987. He published the biography Spaneren in the same year.

Assistant Chief of Police

Ørnulf Tofte
Head of counter-intelligence
In office
? – 1987
Personal details
Born (1922-02-12) February 12, 1922
ProfessionPolice officer

Career

He graduated from the police academy in March 1940 and joined the police force as a constable. In 1948, he joined the Police Surveillance Agency. He was promoted to sergeant in 1952 and inspector in 1954. He eventually rose to become Assistant Chief of Police (i.e. corresponding to Assistant Chief Constable in the UK police force) and head of counter-intelligence, reporting directly to the Director of the Police Surveillance Agency.

Tofte was involved in the investigations of all the three major spy cases in Norway during the Cold War: The Sunde case, the Haavik case and the Treholt case.[2][3] He personally arrested all three and headed the investigations of the Haavik and Treholt cases.

Honours

He received the King's Medal of Merit in Gold upon his retirement in 1987. The same year, he published his biography, Spaneren.

Publications
  • Ørnulf Tofte: Spaneren: Overvåkning for rikets sikkerhet, Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, 1987, ISBN 82-05-17390-7
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References
  1. Norges største spionjeger, NRK
  2. Henriksen, Petter (ed.). "Ørnulf Tofte". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  3. Jørgensen, Jørn-Kr. "Ørnulf Tofte". In Helle, Knut (ed.). Norsk biografisk leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 6 May 2010.


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