22 July Commission: lessons are important to improve future preparedness

“Today, the Government appointed the 22 July Commission, which will carry out a broad and independent evaluation of the response to the attacks on the government offices and on Utøya in order to identify lessons learned. The objective is to ensure that Norwegian society is prepared in the best possible way to prevent and if necessary respond to any future attacks, at the same time as we hold on to core values in our society such as openness and democracy,” announced Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg today.

“This is in line with the announcement we made on 27 July in agreement with the other political parties. The Commission’s mandate and composition have been decided in consultation with the parties represented in the Storting. We have taken their points of view and input into consideration. I am pleased that the leaders of the Conservative Party, the Christian Democratic Party and the Liberal Party supported the proposal. The Progress Party has chosen to take note of the proposal on grounds of principle,” said Mr Stoltenberg.
 
The mandate of the 22 July Commission sets out that it is to examine the ability of the authorities and society as a whole to:
- disclose plans of attacks and prevent such attacks,
- protect themselves against and reduce the consequences of a future attack, and
- deal with the situation during and after such events, including taking care of the injured and relatives of those killed or injured. The Commission is requested to take particular consideration of the fact that so many of those affected on 22 July were young people.

“The Commission is to propose measures to improve preparedness in the future. It is free to consider other factors or measures that its review shows there is a need for,” said Mr Stoltenberg.

An independent commission
The Commission is to be independent of the Government and the Office of the Prime Minister. It is to complete its work by 10 August 2012 and report to the Prime Minister. The Commission is free to bring in external expertise as needed for its work and to appoint its own secretariat. Importance has been attached to putting together a commission with a broad range of expertise.

The Commission is to be chaired by Alexandra Bech Gjørv. She is a lawyer at the law firm Hjort. Ms Bech Gjørv has long experience from senior management in the private sector, for example as Executive Vice President of Hydro. In this position she was responsible for human resources, health, safety and the environment and corporate social responsibility in one of Norway’s largest enterprises. She has also headed the New Energy business sector in both Hydro and Statoil. In addition, Ms Bech Gjørv has extensive international experience.

The other members of the Commission are:
- Former Chief of Police in Hordaland, Ragnar Line Auglend, Bergen
- Former Police Commissioner in Copenhagen, Hanne Bech Hansen, Hillerup, Denmark
- Researcher Laila Bokhari, Oslo
- Former CEO of NSB Einar Enger, Rakkestad
- Lt General Torgeir Hagen, former head of the Norwegian armed forces’ intelligence services, Hamar
- Professor Guri Hjeltnes, Oslo.
- Vice President of the Norwegian Red Cross Linda Motrøen Paulsen, Stavanger
- Chief County Medical Officer Karin Straume, Vadsø

These nine members will be supplemented by a tenth, who will be a man with police or rescue services expertise from one of our closest neighbouring countries.