Arne Treholt

Arne Treholt (13 December 1942 – 12 February 2023) was a Norwegian civil servant, diplomat and Labour Party politician who was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and Iraq. Treholt served as the State Secretary under Norwegian Minister of Maritime Law [no], Jens Evensen, from 1976–78, as a Norwegian counsellor at the United Nations in New York from 1979–82, as a student at the Norwegian Joint Staff College from 1982–83, and head of the press department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1983. He held connections with Soviet and Iraqi agents during this period. Treholt was arrested in 1984 and the following year sentenced to 20 years in prison for espionage but was pardoned in 1992. He was the first Norwegian to be convicted of espionage.

His father Thorstein Treholt was a senior member of the Labour Party who served as the Minister of Agriculture in the 1970s. Before entering politics Arne was a journalist for the Arbeiderbladet.

Arne Treholt was born to Thorstein Treholt (1911–93) and Olga Lyngstad (1913–76). His father was a senior member of the Labor Party who served as a member of Storting and as the Minister of Agriculture. Arne studied at the Oslo Cathedral School, where he earned his examen artium in 1961, and later became a student at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo. He was involved in student politics at both of these institutions.

He married Brit Sjørbotten (1944–) in 1967, they divorced in 1973. In 1977, he married journalist Kari Storækre, the marriage also resulted in a divorce in 1985. In 1987, he married Renee Michelle "Shelly" Steele (1968–1992), a fellow inmate until her release.

Treholt was a member of the Norwegian Labour Party and had worked as a journalist for Arbeiderbladet since 1966.

Treholt met Jens Evensen while opposing the 1967 coup by the Greek junta. He was the political secretary for Evensen when the latter served as the minister of commerce. He then became the State Secretary (1976–1978) when Evensen served as the Norwegian Minister of Maritime Law [no]. Treholt was central in negotiating trade agreements with the Council of Europe, the law of the sea, and Norwegian economic zones on the coast of Northern Norway with the Soviet Union. Treholt is noted to have built up a large network of contacts within politics, media and civil service. Treholt and Evensen's unconventional style and close political relationship was met with skepticism especially for the fact that Treholt was considered to be a part of the Labor Party's security policy left wing.

From 1979 to 1982 he was connected to the Norwegian UN delegation in New York as an embassy counsellor. During the years 1982–1983 he studied at the Norwegian Joint Staff College. He was also department head of division for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' press from 1983.

Treholt provided the Soviet Union with information on the Norwegian defense plans for northern Norway in the event of a Soviet invasion, material weaknesses in the Norwegian Armed Forces, mobilization plans, information on how to most effectively take out Norwegian soldiers, Norwegian emergency plans, the location of NATO allies' stored equipment in Norway, and the meeting minutes of the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. Treholt was found to possess a secret bank account in Switzerland with a substantial illicit amount. Treholt's espionage is generally seen as the most serious spy case in the modern history of Norway. Following his arrest, Treholt was described as "the greatest traitor to Norway since Quisling". The Treholt case was the last major espionage case in Norway during the Cold War, following the earlier Haavik case, the Høystad case and the Sunde case.