Into the Machine Room of Crisis

Into the Machine Room of Crisis - talk with Morten Anker Jensen: Thursday 22 October 2026, 19:00–20:30, Biblioteket i Herning, Herning. Admission is free.

Morten Anker Jensen, former police inspector at Sydøstjyllands Police, head of the Police Emergency Response Unit, and operations chief at NOST, is known from the DR programme "Crisis Exercise: Hybrid Attack on Denmark". He sits down in conversation with DR journalist Maja Flinthøj, who has covered defence, emergency preparedness, and societal crises for years, to discuss what it is like to be in the midst of some of the crises that have shaped Denmark.

Drawing on personal accounts and concrete anecdotes, the conversation illuminates the dilemmas that arise during a crisis: how to make decisions when time is short and information incomplete - and what to do when there is no manual. Morten Anker Jensen has 42 years of experience from the police and has, among other things, sat in the National Operations Centre (NOST) during the coronavirus pandemic, where he knew about the impending lockdown six hours before the Prime Minister's press conference. His experience also covers the culling of mink, the bomb threat at Billund Airport, and the Muhammad cartoons.

The event is part of the thematic collaboration "Together on Preparedness" - a partnership between DR, Østifterne, Danske Folkeoplysnings Samråd, and Libraries - which focuses on preparedness as a practical, social, mental, and cultural phenomenon.

The lecture is free but requires a ticket. Room: ABC.