Name Benedicte Bjornland | ||
 | ||
Marie Benedicte Bjørnland (born 30 April 1965) is a Norwegian lawyer. She has been head of the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) since June 2012.
She was born in Kristiansand and grew up in Lier and Sandefjord. After obtaining a Master of Law degree from the University of Oslo, she worked as a deputy judge in Skien and Porsgrunn and as a consultant in the Directorate for prices, with most of her career in various positions in the police force, becoming Chief of police in Vestfold in 2007. As part of the latter position, she led the local branch of PST.
After Janne Kristiansen resigned as head of PST in January 2012, Bjørnland was appointed the new leader by Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet on 8 June 2012, being one of six applicants for the position.
She is married with two children and resides in Sandefjord.
In 2016, Marie Bjørnland stated in an radio interview with The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation that being expressively 'anti-islam' is enough to be considered as 'right-wing extremist' by PST.
