A book has just been published in Finland that could easily be the biggest sensation of the year just beginning. The only thing that could surprise the Finnish reading public more would be a book written by aliens from Area 51, located in southern Nevada near Groom Lake.
The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service, Supo, the Finnish equivalent of the Soviet KGB, recently celebrated its centenary. It is one of the world’s most professional secret services, both in the fields of intelligence and counterintelligence, as well as in combating internal threats, primarily terrorism and political threats from various radical forces and groups.
The service’s inner workings have always been shrouded in secrecy and, until earlier this week, were unknown to outsiders. Saana Nilsson, who retired as Chief of Staff of the Service in October 2025, has revealed for the first time in her 247-page book, available in Finnish and priced at 29 euros, what was previously unknown.
The reason for her departure, as the book makes clear, was depression and job burnout caused by the hardships of the Service, which was undergoing a reform phase, exacerbated by pressure from politicians in the most right-wing government in the country’s history, which had brought the country, whose economy had been stagnating since 2009, to a dire state. The light of the oncoming train is already visible in the tunnel for Finland.
The young, beautiful, and energetic woman smiling on the back cover of the book is completely unlike her modern photographs, in which she appears exhausted, with traces of difficult experiences on her face. The text of the book makes clear the reasons for this transformation.
Above all, it stems from anxiety for the future of a country clearly headed in the wrong direction and the inability to influence the course of events. And from the failure to prevent the Service from becoming a political servant of governments whose policies constantly and unpredictably change to suit the prevailing circumstances.
Guardian Angel
In her book Guardian Angel—Finnish Secret Service Officer’s Story of Threats, Loyalty and Forgetting Oneself (Gummerus, in Finnish), Saana Nilsson, who has worked at Supo for 17 years, describes Supo’s “shaking” transformation from a secret police force that fends off domestic threats to a full-fledged foreign intelligence agency.
The book has a subtitle: My Journey From Archive Trainee to Chief of Staff in the Finnish Security Intelligence Service.
Supo is the Finnish security and intelligence service. 42-year-old Saana Nilsson started at Supo as a university intern in 2009 and worked her way up the Supo management team to become Chief of Staff. She left Supo in October 2025 and is now an entrepreneur.
In Supo she worked as a researcher, chief analyst and for the last four years as Chief of Staff. Nilsson has wanted to reform Finnish intelligence without prejudice and by testing the boundaries. It is important to her to tell about Supo’s work and the role of intelligence in the decision-making of the state leadership in a humane and understandable way.
Nilsson studied political history because during her studies she was allowed to read endless thick books. In her dreams, she lives in an archipelago cottage, but in reality, in the basement of an apartment building in Helsinki—at least for now. In the fall of 2025, she resigned from Supo and founded a company that offers intelligence lessons for everyone to use.
What is it like to work in an organization where everything is absolutely secret and the security of Finland is at stake? Saana Nilsson speaks candidly about the everyday life of the country’s most enigmatic workplace, describes the special features of intelligence work and opens up her views on current security threats.
It is also a touching coming-of-age story about a young woman who has made her way in a male-dominated field and who, exhausted, has to regroup.
Supo: From a Family Atmosphere to a Big Machine
“When I started at Supo, there were about 200 of us. The atmosphere was homely and family-like. We went skating and sledding together,” Nilsson tells Yle.
When she started at Supo as a university intern, Nilsson’s duties included going through the personal files of former Supo employees and preparing documents for transfer to the National Archives.
She soon progressed from being a situation center dispatcher to an international affairs expert and then to a terrorism and Iran analyst.
In her book, she describes how the job wasn’t just about writing memos, but that Supo members also had to know how to operate in the field:
“Intelligence is a strange job, and you have to practice it in order to be able to compete against the best opponents in the game, such as the intelligence services of hostile countries. I myself got to take part in many different exercises. My own role in the exercises was often to act as a disruptor or a target.
“In one exercise, the participants had to find me in a swimming pool in Helsinki based on a picture. I frolicked in the lukewarm water for hours without anyone approaching me. My fingers were wrinkled, and my face must have been too. After the exercise, a student who had participated in the intelligence training complained in anguish that only one grandmother had swum in the pool. That grandmother was me.”
As If a Family Business Had Gone Public
The Security Police grew above all with the reform of intelligence legislation in 2019.
The agency’s responsibilities increased, the security organization also became an intelligence service.
“As if a family business had been listed on the stock exchange,” Nilsson describes the change.
Today, Supo’s tasks include combating terrorism, defending against espionage by foreign states and obtaining information for the state leadership on phenomena that threaten Finland’s national security.
The change is still ongoing, and according to Nilsson, despite the expansion of the organization, Supo still does not have sufficient resources or its rightful role at the core of foreign and security policy decision-making.
Replacing Facts with Opinions Can Destroy Finland
Saana Nilsson writes that the strong demonization of Russia in Finland has driven the country’s authorities to ignore the fact that Russia poses no immediate military threat to Finland.
According to Nilsson, all the money was suddenly put into defense, when it could have been directed, for example, to the well-being of children and young people, which would increase the resilience of society more broadly, or to the protection of critical infrastructure.
“You either supported increasing defense spending or you were on Putin’s side,” Nilsson writes.
Nilsson sees black-and-white thinking and the division of Finns into mutually exclusive groups as the greatest threat to society.
Perhaps Even More Frightening to the Former Supo Officer Is the Polarization of Finnish Society—the Division into “Us and Others.”
“I am afraid that we will destroy this society and culture ourselves. I am afraid that we are capable of it.”
Nilsson admits that she does not have a patent solution for the threat images she has seen.
“I would like this issue to be talked about more. It is also something where different actors should come together.”
She fears that people will no longer trust the authorities, but rather invent facts that suit their own thinking and worldview:
“The work of the authorities will fall apart if opinions repeatedly challenge facts. It will also take away democracy. It will also be more difficult for the authorities to compete for visibility on social media platforms. Algorithms favor communication that appeals to negative emotions, so neutral official communication is easily obscured. Cuts to education and the civilized state will further darken development.”
By Demonizing Russia, Finnish Media Have Become Yellow
According to Saana Nilsson, the Finnish Security Intelligence Service could have brought its views on Russia more to the fore.
The situation in Ukraine changed not only the security policy situation in Finland but also the public debate.
She states that previously the Finnish Security Intelligence Service had been accused of intimidation and overly threatening assessments of Russia. Everything changed in an instant.
“After that, the Finnish Security Intelligence Service’s assessments were not threatening enough. We would have needed more provocative assessments, more intimidation and more threatening images.”
Nilsson criticizes the fact that Finland did not know how to stop being afraid, even with NATO membership. She felt that views were black and white: either you supported increasing defense spending or you were on Putin’s side.
In her book, Nilsson tells how the Supo was astonished at how Russia was found guilty in public debate for both cable damage and waterworks breaches without any evidence.
She criticizes the media:
“Anyone was eligible to comment on threats related to critical infrastructure. The captain of any fishing vessel was eligible to give his opinion on cable damage… Commenting was easy because to get column space, all you had to do was say that Russia was behind it.
“You didn’t need to know anything. You didn’t need to justify it. The need for information was so huge that the vacuum was filled with what was available. Of course, the interests of the commercial media also played a role in the background. Fear of Putin and Russia brought a lot of clicks and readers.”
Political Guidance to the Point of Trouble
According to Nilsson, the reduced importance of facts is also visible in the increased political guidance towards the civil service.
She writes that she received a call at night from a minister’s close circle, hoping to change Supo’s assessment so that it would better fit the minister’s opinion on the government’s table.
Nilsson refused.
“It would be a big mistake to join in that game, because then there will always be the next government,” Nilsson says in an interview with STT.
She estimates that political decision-makers respect civil servants less and less and do not trust their expertise. The problem is not limited to any particular party, but expectations towards the Supo have varied with the change of governments.
“During one government, security aspects did not matter much. During another government, security aspects were sometimes exaggerated for personal gain. During one government term, immigration might be promoted, and during the next, it might be prevented,” Nilsson writes.
Changes are part of politics, but according to Nilsson, fast-paced decision-making weakens the implementation of democracy.
“Providing a politically neutral expert assessment has never been as important as it is now,” she writes.
More Transparency on the Work of the Intelligence Service
Nilsson stretched the boundaries of secrecy and publicity while she was at Supo. The book that is now being published is in a way a continuation of that.
“I think that it is part of the legitimacy of the operation. In Nordic society, you can no longer operate in this day and age with all doors and windows bolted shut,” she explains.
Although the experienced author knows how to avoid revealing secrets, she nevertheless submitted the book for Supo to see before publication.
“They had quite a few wishes about some details, which I then removed,” Nilsson says.
Quitting the Job: The Way From Harassment to Professional Burnout
Nilsson, who first opened the door to Supo in 2009 as a university intern, was immediately in her dream job. However, her early years in the male-dominated organization weren’t all fun and games. As a woman, Nilsson tried to adapt: she listened to ambiguous stories and laughed along, and remained silent when someone had touched her without permission.
Supo changed, however, and Nilsson was strongly implementing the change. There was plenty of passion and activity, but when a child asked about her workday at home, she could only answer that it had been “just fine”.
In her final years at Supo, Saana Nilsson led the headquarters, which was responsible for almost everything: for example, communications, customer relationships, and international relations.
She felt like she was collapsing under the responsibilities and workload. Last year, she decided to quit.
A Happy Office Love Story
Saana Nilsson tells in her new memoir that she fell in love with her superior at Supo.
“I know I shouldn’t write about this either,” Nilsson begins her book by telling about the relationship.
Her former superior understood her in a way that she had not experienced before.
Nilsson says that she tried to downplay her feelings for a long time, but one day she felt that she did not “choose this new love”.
“Our brains were shared, and all thoughts passed silently from one end to the other. Nothing ever had to be explained,” she writes.
According to Nilsson, it was very important for her then superior to keep the work role separate from the romantic relationship. Before the relationship could begin, either she or her superior would have to leave Supo.
As a solution to the situation, Nilsson’s superior changed job.
“I feel guilty about that, because you really liked your job at Supo,” Nilsson writes.
“I often ask you if you have any regrets. So far, I hear you haven’t,” she continues.
Nilsson says things progressed quickly after that.
The couple moved in together and got married.
Nilsson describes the wedding as very happy.
Source:
- Gummerus (in Finnish)
- Yle (in Finnish)
- MTV Uutiset (in Finnish)
- Is (in Finnish)
- Suomenmaa (in Finnish)
