Hans Olav Østgaard is a Norwegian jurist.

He was born in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, and graduated with the cand.jur. degree in 1969. He was hired in the Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police

Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police is a Norwegian government ministry in charge of justice, police and domestic intelligence. The main purpose of the Ministry is to provide for the maintenance and development of the basic guarantees of the rule of law...

 in 1970, and was promoted to deputy under-secretary of state in 1982. In 1993 he was appointed as director of the Norwegian Police Surveillance Agency. He was pressured to resign in 1996, as the Norwegian Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee

Norwegian Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee

The Norwegian Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee , commonly known as the EOS Committee is the body responsible for supervising public intelligence, surveillance and security services. The body has seven members and is appointed by the Parliament of Norway...

 found it unacceptable that Berge Furre

Berge Furre

Berge Ragnar Furre is a Norwegian historian, theologian and politician for the Socialist Left Party.-Early life and career:...

 had been surveilled while sitting on the Lund Commission. Østgaard instead became assistant to the permanent under-secretary of state in the Ministry of Justice and the Police in 1997.