Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen: We will reform Finland’s military intelligence legislation to strengthen our homeland defence and national security

Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen: We will reform Finland's military intelligence legislation to strengthen our homeland defence and national security

On 4 June 2026, the Finnish Government, based on Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen's presentation, submitted to Parliament a government proposal for reforming the legislation on military intelligence.

"We will reform Finland's military intelligence legislation to strengthen our homeland defence and national security and to improve our ability to anticipate and prepare for threats. The motivation for our proposal arose from issues identified in the practical application of the current legislation and from technological advances," Minister Häkkänen said.

The legislative reform seeks to address the changed security environment and improve Finland's homeland defence and national security, taking due consideration of fundamental and human rights.

"Russia has become more unpredictable, and it makes active use of a broad spectrum of influence activities. We must be able to address and counter broad-spectrum threats against Finland even if no military force is used. The update to the intelligence legislation will strengthen the possibilities of Finnish authorities to sustain and improve their ability to act in the changed operating environment," Häkkänen said.

The Government proposes to introduce new powers for network traffic intelligence regarding the definition of search criteria and the processing of technical data to identify routing of and changes in network traffic.

A new power is proposed for computer network exploitation of state actors that would enable Finnish authorities to collect data on the operations and data of an information system used for military activities or activities that pose a serious threat to Finland's national security.

In addition, a new right is proposed for performing such intelligence tasks in a foreign information system that are necessary for preventing military activities or activities that threaten Finland's national security.

The Finnish Army, the Finnish Navy and the Finnish Air Force would also be able to use covert human intelligence sources alongside radio signals intelligence.

Reservists and those participating in voluntary national defence who are suited to intelligence tasks would be offered wider opportunities to participate in military intelligence activities during refresher training and voluntary national defence training.

The Government also proposes that the Finnish Border Guard be authorised to assist military intelligence authorities on request. The participation in military intelligence would be added to the duties of the Border Guard.

The government proposal would expand information exchange between military intelligence authorities and the Finnish Tax Administration, the Financial Supervisory Authority as well as Finnish insurance institutions, pension institutions and employment funds to facilitate obligation compliance reporting. The amendments would improve operating conditions for military intelligence authorities.

The proposal to reform military intelligence legislation is not dependent on the government proposal to amend section 10 of the Constitution of Finland.

Inquiries: Kosti Honkanen, Senior Specialist for Legal Affairs, Ministry of Defence, tel. +359 295 140 607.