Latest news with #Jakobsen
Euronews
6 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
Danish universities increasingly rejecting foreign researchers
Growing scrutiny against espionage is leading higher institutions of learning in Denmark to reject foreign researchers, as officials report threat levels as high. University authorities in the Nordic nation say they are particularly vigilant when researchers come from Russia, Iran, and China, as sensitive Danish research must not fall into the wrong hands. At Aarhus University, one of Denmark's foremost institutions of higher education, at least 24 foreign researchers have been rejected this year. This equates to one in twelve applicants from China, Russia, and Iran, the institution said. According to Brian Vinter, vice-dean of Aarhus University's Faculty of Engineering, the applicant researchers were rejected on the basis that they would have access to material that could lead them to divulge information to a third party. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) says there are four ways in which foreign states can exploit and pressure researchers into becoming spies. Bribery or buying access to knowledge, blackmail, threats, coercion, digital influence campaigns, and simple methods such as surveillance, theft, and burglary are among the ways it mentions. At the University of Southern Denmark, André Ken Jakobsen, associate professor at the Centre for War Studies, warns that advanced technology can be applied by many powers. "And that makes the interest bigger, the intensity bigger, the competition bigger, and thus the threat is also bigger," he said, adding that a lot of unwanted attention may arise, especially in the areas of quantum technology and the green transition. This is what has informed the need for caution, according to Professor Jakobsen. Denmark's security and defence agenda The tightened rules on this also come in light of Denmark's security and defence agenda when it took over the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union. On 3 July, Denmark marked the takeover of the Presidency of the Council of the EU with an official opening ceremony in Aarhus. While analysts believe this may particularly be geared to rearmament efforts, as the Scandinavian country tends to do with defence as a priority, associate professor Jakobsen notes that the threat of cyber espionage is real. The Danish Emergency Management Agency reports that the threat of cyber espionage and cybercrime against Danish universities is very high. That's why screenings are necessary, according to Jakobsen. Despite the efforts to mitigate risks, there are fears the situation may have some impact. "Of course, I think that's super sad because we want the best people to come in and work for us. This is also why we do everything we can to avoid overimplementation," said Vinter of the Aarhus University Technical Faculty. "But there is no doubt that we say no to some people who probably could have had employment at Aarhus University without anything going wrong with it, but we have assessed that the risk is too high," he explained. Several other Danish universities have also rejected foreign researchers for fear of espionage, but they have said they don't keep count of the number of rejections. To screen applicants, the University of Copenhagen told local media it has employed two staff members in addition to using a third-party consultancy. The majority of the screenings have been carried out in the natural and health sciences, although the university told DR, the official Danish broadcaster, that they do not have statistics on how many applications have been refused.
DW
09-07-2025
- Politics
- DW
Denmark finalizes US defense deal despite Greenland gripes – DW – 07/09/2025
President Trump refuses to rule out forcibly annexing Greenland. Yet the Danish parliament has just passed a law allowing the US military free access to bases. Why? At first glance, it doesn't seem to make any sense. The US president has deeply rattled Denmark by reiterating several times he may invade and occupy the semi-autonomous island of Greenland for "national security" reasons. But rather than looking at how it could bolster its national defenses against a possible — even if unlikely — incursion, the Danish parliament on June 11 overwhelming approved an agreement to let the US military enter the country whenever it wants, for whatever reason it sees fit. "[T]he purpose of such presence of US forces is to further the efforts of the Parties to promote peace and security in the areas of mutual interest and benefit and to take part in common defense efforts," the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) states. Some areas may even be put under the exclusive control of the US, although Greenland — which already hosts a US base — and the Faroe Islands are excluded. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The DCA was drafted in 2023 with the Biden administration, at a time when transatlantic trust and cooperation were the norm and the notion of an unwelcome US deployment into any Danish territory was inconceivable. Why would Copenhagen advance the deal now? "We didn't have any option but to say yes," explained Royal Danish Defense College military analyst Peter Viggo Jakobsen, acknowledging some heightened public opposition to the move ahead of the final parliamentary vote. Ultimately, he told DW, Denmark needs the DCA more than the US does. Holding off ratification to show displeasure with the White House's Greenland statements, as some have advocated, would be "pointless" in Jakobsen's view. He doesn't think a land grab is actually likely to happen regardless of the president's bluster, so he advises just keeping Danish angst under wraps. "You saw what happened to Zelenskyy," when Ukraine's president tried to argue with Trump, Jakobsen reminded. "He was blown out of the water, and it was fantastic television. We're not really in a position where we want to do that, so I think you need to be tactical about it." And being tactical for this analyst means emphasizing the original intent of the DCA, which is creating the conditions for the US to come quickly to the aid of Denmark in case of emergency. "We will be deploying Danish forces on the Russian border in one of the Baltic countries" as part of NATO's presence there, Jakobsen explained, "and we need [the US] for air support if something should go wrong … and to enhance deterrence in order to make sure that the Russians don't attack our forces in the Baltics." But Danish lawmaker Per Clausen, a member of The Left group in the European Parliament, is among those who wanted his fellow parliamentarians back home to reject the DCA. "The idea that the US should have troops in Denmark and the US decides when the troops should be here and where they should be — it's a terrible mistake!" he told DW. "[Trump] had threatened Greenland. He had shown in his behavior against Ukrainians that we couldn't trust him," Clausen recalled, and "even in that situation, the Danish government said the 'US is our closest ally'. It will take some time to come out of this illusion, I think." Clausen believes Copenhagen's real allies lie in Europe, especially its nearest neighbors, and that the government should be weaning itself off of dependency on the US instead of binding itself closer. "We need to strengthen the cooperation with other Nordic countries and with Canada in the situation we are in now," he added. But Clausen may not find many kindred spirits wanting to distance themselves from US cooperation in the other Nordic countries: Finland, Sweden and Norway had all signed DCAs before Denmark did. Only in Sweden — which granted the US access to 17 bases or training areas in its agreement — was debate over the deal particularly "vociferous," as the Swedish Defense Research Agency's Niklas Granholm puts it. In a five-hour session in the Swedish parliament, the deal was accused of opening up the possibility for American soldiers to run amok all over the country and for the US to deposit nuclear weapons on Swedish territory. These arguments were "at best uninformed or something else worse than that, in my view," Granholm said, and may also have been the "last hurrah of those who were against NATO membership and military alignment." It nonetheless passed handily. Speaking of NATO, why do these countries, which are now all covered by the alliance's mutual security guarantee, Article 5, even need a separate pledge that Washington would defend them if needed? Granholm describes it as a second layer of assurance. "There are NATO plans and there are US plans for Europe," he explained, and with 32 allies each having the right to hold up consensus on a call for Article 5 back-up, "you can imagine that there's some kind of blockage" in the midst of an emergency. He believes this was the main reason for Sweden's push for the DCA. But in Denmark, Peter Viggo Jakobsen has a more pessimistic rationale for why the DCA is necessary now more than ever. "Imagine that NATO should fall apart," he suggested. "It's no longer inconceivable, given what we've just experienced [with Trump] the last six months." He says under such a scenario, US self-interest would take over and they'd need a presence in northern Europe. "They're very concerned about the Russian nuclear weapons that are based on the Kola Peninsula. And if you want to take them out, then you need to be present in Greenland, you need to be present in Iceland, you need be present in Norway and in Finland and in Sweden." And, Jakobsen added, "it's also useful to be able to place aircraft in Denmark." Now with the DCA, the US won't even have to ask first.
