http://dx.doi.org/10.59704/aad8d9d735ba93e0 https://verfassungsblog.de/obstinate-choices/ Obstinate Choices - Understanding the Danish Intelligence Scandal Schack, Marc eng 2023-10-13 electronic resource text/html ddc:342 Infrastructure intelligence official secrets snowden treason Whistleblowing Verfassungsblog Verfassungsblog--2366-7044 CC BY-SA 4.0 Denmark is currently going through a full-blown intelligence scandal. It includes charges of illegal activity lodged by the Danish Intelligence Oversight Board (TET) against the Danish foreign intelligence service (FE), as well as a range of criminal cases brought against the former head of FE, a former minister of defence, and a former intelligence officer on charges of leaking classified information. In this post, I argue that these scandals can best be understood through the lens of a series of obstinate choices made by the Danish government and its representatives. Seemingly, because key decision-makers lacked trust and got fed up with leaks, the situation was handled aggressively from the start, as a matter of principle. I explain the complex scandal but focus on specifics only in the case against former minister of defence, Claus Hjort Frederiksen, as his case is the most clear-cut and observable for outsiders.