Swedes puzzle over television appearance of 'security adviser'

NEW YORK - A trans-Atlantic wave of puzzlement is rippling across Sweden for the second time in a week, after a prominent Fox News program featured a "Swedish defense and national security adviser" who's unknown to the country's military and foreign-affairs officials.

Swedes, and some US citizens, have been wondering about representations of the Nordic nation in the United States since President Donald Trump invoked "what's happening last night in Sweden" while alluding to past terror attacks in Europe during a rally Feb 18. There hadn't been any major incident in Sweden the previous night.

Then, Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly convened an on-air faceoff on Thursday over Swedish immigration and crime between a Swedish newspaper reporter and a man identified on screen and verbally as a "Swedish defense and national security adviser," Nils Bildt.