TheEstonian Internal Security Service (Estonian:Kaitsepolitsei, officiallyEstonian:Kaitsepolitseiamet, abbreviatedKAPO) is the centralnational security agency of theRepublic of Estonia. Its primary responsibilities include protecting the constitutional order, conductingcounterintelligence, and investigating specific criminal offenses. These include crimes committed by state officials, acts ofterrorism,incitement to hatred,crimes against humanity,war crimes, and the illegal handling or trafficking of firearms, explosives, radioactive substances, and otherstrategic materials. The agency also protectsstate secrets and performs other internal security functions.
The Estonian Internal Security Service operates under the authority of theEstonian Ministry of Internal Affairs. While many of its activities remain classified, the agency publishes an annual overview of the national security situation, titled theKaitsepolitsei aastaraamat.
The Kaitsepolitseiamet was originally established on 12 April 1920. From 1925 to 1940, it was known as the Political Police (Poliitiline politsei, abbreviatedPolPol). During this period, PolPol focused on countering the subversive activities of political extremists, espionage, desertion, smuggling, and terrorism. Among its main targets were theCommunist Party of Estonia, which had been declared illegal following the failedDecember 1924 coup attempt. Operating underground and through legal front organizations, Estonian communists received support from theSoviet Union, which rejected parliamentary democracy and, in some instances, considered terrorism a legitimate political tool.[1] PolPol also monitored pro-Nazi Baltic Germans and monarchist elements among the White Russian émigrés.[2]
Following the Soviet annexation of Estonia on 17 June 1940, the Political Police was among the first institutions to be dismantled. Nearly all of its personnel were arrested and deported during theJune deportations. By the end ofWorld War II, more than 90% of its staff and their families had been killed.[2]
The Estonian Internal Security Service was re-established on 1 March 1991, as part of Estonia’s restoration of independence from Soviet occupation. Until 18 June 1993, the agency functioned as a department within the national police structure, after which it was reorganized as an independent institution. Following the adoption of a new law on security services on 1 March 2001, its status was changed from a police institution to a national security agency.
According to a 2009Amnesty International report: "In June, the Estonian Security Police Board published its annual report which made serious allegations against theLegal Information Centre for Human Rights (LICHR), an NGO promoting and defending the rights of linguistic minorities. The report stated that the LICHR was used by the Russian Federation to carry out scientific research for propaganda purposes and accused the LICHR of trying to conceal the specific sources of funding it received from the Russian Federation. These allegations were widely seen as an attempt by the government to misrepresent the LICHR and to undermine its efforts to secure necessary financial and social support to carry out its work."[3]
Additional criticism has come fromRisto Teinonen, a Finnish lawyer and neo-Nazi living in Tallinn. In 2009, Teinonen initiated legal proceedings against the Estonian Internal Security Service, accusing the agency of politically motivated persecution of innocent people.[4][5][6]
