This paper is based on a study of the development of the internal security in the Norwegian Central Government in the period from 1994 to 2007. The main focus in the paper is on the roles which the Ministry of Justice and the Directorate of Civil Protection and Emergency Planning (DCE) holds. The aim is to study the vertical coordination between these, and the horizontal coordination between DCE and the sectoral ministries. The reason for the changes and the need for a superior coordinator was that the field of civil security was described as fragmented and not well organized. In the period from 1994 to 2005 three Royal decrees, which were all important for the policy changes came. These have led to strengthening the coordination role of the Ministry of Justice and a more evident supervisory role for the DCE. The process with getting the decrees approved was characterized by the sector departments fear that the constitutional responsibility and the principles of responsibility, subsidiarity and similarity, would be weakened by giving the Ministry of Justice a stronger role of coordination, and by giving DCE the supervisory role. The policy-changes have had an impact on the practice. The most important change in practice is supervision with the sector ministries internal security work. By supervising, DCE gets the present status, which is important for the Ministry of Justices horizontal coordination responsibility. The Ministry of Oil and Energy, and the Ministry of Culture- and Church are used as cases in this study to illustrate the supervision in practice. The study shows, among other things, that the supervisions of the DCE are characterized by soft means such as advice and guidance, and a lack of strong means. This kind of supervision has been well received and has led to increased awareness about internal security in the sectoral ministries. The study also shows that the weak sides are in the follow-ups done by the Ministry of Justices and the weak connection in civil security work between the sectoral ministries and the underlying departments.