International cooperation to strengthening Sweden´s civil prepardness

International cooperation is an important part of strengthening Sweden’s civil preparedness. Last week, a delegation led by the Director General of MSB, Mikael Frisell, visited Washington and New York, to meet with US partners, follow up ongoing efforts and discuss priorities for future collaboration to further the development of Sweden’s Total Defense.

Through information exchanges and long term partnerships with friends and allies, we lay the foundation for increased resilience, and the ability to handle future crises - together.

On Monday, the DG participated in a panel at the House of Sweden, together with FEMA and RAND, delivering remarks on the development of the Total Defense, lessons learned from Ukraine, communication to the public, civil-military coordination and Sweden’s contributions to NATO. The DG also signed an agreement on bilateral cooperation with DHS Science and Technology, to facilitate a project on using AI to strengthen protection of critical infrastructure.

On Tuesday, the delegation continued to New York, for meetings with the New York National Guard. In leadership discussions with Major General Shields it was concluded that the civilian partnership under the new State Partnership Program (SPP) are off to a flying start! MSB helps the Armed Forces coordinate our civilian agencies, and there are great opportunities to deepen the partnership within areas such as civil-military coordination, CBRN, training and exercise, as well as lessons learned from the management of major incidents.