It wasn't exactly John le Carre material: Norway's chief spymaster was forced to resign in ignominy yesterday after revealing "by mistake" that the country's equivalent of Britain's MI6 runs a string of undercover agents in Pakistan.
Janne Kristiansen, who until yesterday was head of Norwegian intelligence, the Police Security Service, made what has proved to be something of a howling gaffe while giving evidence at a public inquiry held before the Stortinget parliament in Oslo.
During the hearing, which concerned Norway's 400-man military contingent in Afghanistan, the intelligence chief was asked whether it was of strategic importance for Oslo to maintain contacts with Pakistani intelligence.
Kristiansen's wholly unexpected response managed to raise eyebrows: she disclosed her country already had its own full-blown military intelligence or "E service" agents operating in Pakistan.
"The E service has its representatives in these countries, so we co-operate via the E service about this country," Kristiansen told the public hearing, according to the official transcript published yesterday.
