The Finnish government is putting forth a proposal to allow for confidential, non-publicised hiring by the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) and to extend the possibility to both the National Bureau of Investigation and local police.
The non-public hiring procedure would only apply to those Security Intelligence Service positions where there would be a special need to protect the assignment and the identity of the employee.
With the change in the law, Supo could thus have secret agents employed for civilian intelligence work in Finland and abroad. Employees could also be hired secretly for intelligence-related support or analysis tasks.
At present, the law requires all public jobs to be published.
Open recruitment facilitates spying
Supo has long suspected that some applications for jobs at the agency are only made so that the applicant can access the names and other personal information of the people selected to fill open positions.
Under public hiring transparency rules, job-seekers who have applied for a position have a broad right to know the name of the successful candidate as well as, for example, their educational background and previous jobs.
According to the government's proposal, the increasingly international and professional nature of criminal activities has created an essential need to protect the identity of personnel hired for certain jobs, as well as recruitment methods and related information.
In some cases, it could be a matter of life or death.
Undercover work
The Police Administration Act currently allows only a few types of staff vacancies within police departments to be filled, if necessary, without a public application process.
Under the terms of the government's new proposal, certain positions within the National Bureau of Investigation, and even local police departments, which include working with confidential sources, undercover operations or witness protection tasks could be filled without a public application process.
According to the Interior Ministry's estimate, a handful of non-public job listings by police would be likely each year, while the Finnish Security Intelligence Service has about 30-40 positions open annually where non-public hiring could be considered necessary.