Overview: Norway's internal security service continued to assess that violent Islamist extremism remains the primary threat to the security of Norway. A small but outspoken group of violent Islamist extremists continued to be active in Oslo, although they were not responsible for any attacks. In 2014, a number of prominent cases raised concern about Norwegians radicalizing at home and traveling abroad to participate in terrorist activities. According to media reports, the Police Security Service (PST) publicly stated that more than 70 Norwegian residents had traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight in the conflict there.

In July, the government went on high terror alert upon receiving various streams of intelligence indicating that returning foreign terrorist fighters to Europe representing the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were planning an attack, possibly in Norway. On November 5, the PST raised the terror alert for the next 12 months, saying that a terrorist attack in Norway by violent extremists was "likely."

Norway is a member of the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL and the government co-sponsored UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2178 on foreign terrorist fighters. In October, the government announced it would send 120 trainers to participate in two capacity building missions for Iraqi security forces. Norway provided approximately US $200 million in 2014 to address the humanitarian crises in Iraq and Syria. Although not a member, Norway is active in the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) and participated in the December 9 Hedayah/GCTF Countering Violent Extremism Communications Expo in Abu Dhabi.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: Terrorism is a criminal offense in Norway. Current laws criminalize conducting or planning to conduct a terrorist attack; receiving terrorism-related training; or providing material support to a terrorist organization with money, materials, recruitment, fighting, and related crimes. Maximum prison sentences are 30 years for serious terrorism offenses.

The PST is responsible for domestic security, including counterterrorism activities. A joint analysis cell with participants from the PST and the Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS), the external security service, became fully operational in 2014. Both the PST and the NIS have placed significant resources in identifying, tracking, and taking action against Norwegian citizens who wish to travel to and from Syria and Iraq to engage in fighting. The PST and NIS maintain an evolving list of those who have traveled to Syria and Iraq, those who have returned, and those who have expressed an interest in traveling to the two countries.

Norwegian immigration authorities continue to use biometric equipment for fingerprinting arrivals from outside the Schengen area. Immigration to Norway is facilitated and regulated by the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration, which processes all applications for asylum, visas, family immigration, work and study permits, citizenship, permanent residence, and travel documents.

Norway faces some legal and technical barriers to stemming the flow of foreign terrorist fighters. The largest legal barrier faced by Norwegian authorities related to the foreign terrorist fighter issue is that Norway cannot revoke or permanently hold a citizen's passport for expressing support for a terrorist group (or expressing an interest to travel to Syria and Iraq), nor return an asylum-seeker who expresses support for a terrorist group to an area with ongoing conflict, such as Syria or Iraq.

Since enacting the 2013 counterterrorism laws, the Norwegian authorities have filed criminal charges against approximately five Norwegian individuals, which would not have been possible prior to the adoption of the new laws.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism: Norway is a member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and a member of the Egmont Group, a global association of financial intelligence units. The Government of Norway has largely adopted and incorporated FATF standards and recommendations. In response to UNSCR 2178, the government established an interagency group to combat money laundering and terrorist finance, which includes representatives from the Ministries of Justice, Finance, and Foreign Affairs.

Non-profit organizations are subject to strict accounting and regulatory requirements and the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime is charged with monitoring and the periodic testing of these requirements.

While the government does not physically distribute lists, all relevant financial institutions are required to be updated and compliant with new lists, and they feed new lists directly into their own computer systems.

For further information on money laundering and financial crimes, see the 2014 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume 2, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes: http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/index.htm.

Regional and International Cooperation: Norway is active in multilateral fora in counterterrorism efforts. Norway co-sponsored UNSCR 2178 on foreign terrorist fighters, and continued its support to the UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF). Norway remains a member of the EU's Radicalization Awareness Network, an umbrella network of practitioners and local actors involved in countering violent extremism that is designed to enable the members to share and discuss best practices in spotting and addressing radicalization and recruitment leading to acts of terrorism. Norway has been an active participant in the GCTF and took part in the Horn of Africa Working Group meeting in Nairobi in March, as well as the Detention and Reintegration Working Group meeting in Bali in August. Through the GCTF, Norway has implemented several new projects in the area of counterterrorism and countering violent extremism (CVE).

Together with Turkey, Norway is supporting the development of a Countering Violent Extremism Action Plan for the Horn of Africa. Norway has provided US $150,000 to the African Center for the Study and Research on Terrorism, located in Algiers, for the project to strengthen controls over the cross-border movement of terrorists in spaces between official border posts. Norway continues to implement its agreement with the University of Pretoria's Institute for Strategic Studies to build counterterrorism capacity in the police and judiciary systems of African countries, totaling US $1.1 million from 2013 to 2015. Norway also provided US $80,300 to a joint project led by the UN's Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate and the Global Center on Cooperative Security to promote regional counterterrorism cooperation in South Asia.

Countering Radicalization to Violence and Violent Extremism: In June, the Norwegian government published its national Action Plan against Radicalization and Violent Extremism, which is a whole-of-government approach to CVE. Priorities include strengthening research on CVE, improving national and local cooperation on counter-radicalization efforts, helping to promote reintegration of former violent extremists, and preventing online recruitment and radicalization. The Prime Minister has encouraged municipal governments to implement CVE efforts at the local level. Several municipalities around Oslo fjord, which PST assess is the most vulnerable to radicalization to violence, have increased their CVE efforts, including passing CVE action plans and increasing budgets for CVE and counter-radicalization activities.

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