General Intelligence and Security Service

General Intelligence and Security Service
Old Logo of AIVD

Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst (AIVD), formerly known as the BVD (Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst - Domestic Security Service) is the General Intelligence and Security Service or The Secret service of the Netherlands. The office is in Zoetermeer. Its predecessor was the 1945-1947 Bureau voor Nationale Veiligheid (Bureau of National Security).

Contents

Mission

The AIVD focuses mostly on domestic non-military threats to Dutch National security, whereas the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) focuses on international threats, specifically military and government-sponsored threats such as espionage. The AIVD, unlike its predecessor BVD, is charged with collecting intelligence and assisting in combating both domestic and foreign threats to national security.

Since the murder of Theo van Gogh and the discovery of the Hofstad Network, AIVD has re focused on the Islamic Fundamentalist threat to Dutch society.

Oversight and accountability

AIVD main Office

The minister of internal affairs (and relations within the realm) is politically responsible for the AIVD's actions. Oversight is provided by the Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives, comprising the speakers for the parties in the House.

The AIVD publishes an annual report which includes its budget. The published version contains redactions where information is deemed sensitive.

The AIVD can be forced by the courts to publish any records held on a private citizen, but it may keep secret information that is relevant to current cases. No information that is less than five years old will be provided under any circumstance to private citizens about their records.

Activities

Its main activities include;

  • monitoring specific groups, such as leftist activists, Islamic groups, and right-wing extremists
  • sourcing intelligence to and from foreign and domestic intelligence services
  • performing background checks on individuals employed in "positions of trust", specifically public office, and higher-up or privileged positions in industry (such as telecommunications, banks, the largest companies) – this ironically includes members of parliamentary oversight committees
  • investigating incidents such as (terrorist) bombings and threats
  • giving advice and warning about risks to national security, including advising on the protection of political figureheads

Methods and authorities

Its methods and authorities include

  • telephone and internet taps authorized by the minister of internal affairs (as opposed to a court order)
  • infiltration (rarely by employees of the service, but rather by outsiders who would have easy access to a particular group)
  • the use of informants (existing members of groups that are recruited)
  • open sources intelligence
  • unfettered access to police intelligence
  • the use of foreign intelligence service liaisons that reside in the Netherlands under a diplomatic status (including full diplomatic immunity) to collect intelligence in excess of the AIVD's authority

The latter is technically the same as sourcing intelligence from a foreign intelligence service; this method has not been confirmed.

The AIVD operates in tight concert with the Regional Intelligence Service (Regionale Inlichtingen Dienst, RID), to which members of the police are appointed in every police district. It also co-operates with over one hundred intelligence services. Given the small size of the Netherlands, the latter co-operation is not likely to be symmetrical.

Criticism

  • Soon after the arrest of the Dutch businessman Frans van Anraat who has been convicted of complicity in war crimes for selling raw materials for the production of chemical weapons to Iraq during the reign of Saddam Hussein, Dutch newspapers reported that Van Anraat had been an informer of the Dutch secret service AIVD and has enjoyed AIVD's protection.

The service has been criticized for

  • letting go of Abdul Qadeer Khan, who stole Dutch nuclear knowledge and used it for Pakistan to produce its nuclear bomb. However, former prime Minister of the Netherlands Ruud Lubbers claimed in 2005 that this was done on a foreign request.[1]
  • not having enough focus and intelligence on Islamic groups, particularly following the September 11, 2001 attacks and the murder of Theo van Gogh by Mohammed Bouyeri a member of the Hofstad Network of Islamist terrorism
  • not having enough focus and intelligence on political violence or environmental groups, particularly following the murder of Pim Fortuyn by an environmental radical
  • delivering hand grenades to members of the Hofstadgroep through alleged informer Saleh Bouali
  • investigating family members of the Queen, that had had a family rift (Princess Margarita and Edwin De Roy van Zuydewijn) though this was not ordered by the minister of internal affairs, but rather by the Queen's office
  • losing a laptop and a floppy disk with classified information from a regional office of the AIVD. The disk was found by an employee of a car rental agency, and subsequently given to Dutch crime-journalist Peter R. de Vries. Information on the disks indicated that the service collected information on Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn and members of his party, as well as on left-wing activists. Among other things, the documents accuse Pim Fortuyn of having sex with under age Moroccan boys.

During the Cold War the BVD had a reputation for interviewing potential employers of persons they deemed suspicious for any reason, thereby worrying corporations on the employment of these persons. Reasons for being suspect included leftist ideals, membership of the Dutch Communist Party or a spotty military record (such as being a conscientious objector with regard to conscription), although no evidence of the latter has ever been produced.[2]

Influence and results

Before 2001, the Netherlands had the largest absolute number of wiretaps in the world.

The service's focus on leftist activism is legendary[citation needed]; leftist activists exhibit great measures of paranoia relating to the service's activities, whether real or imaginary.[citation needed] This focus on leftist, rather than right-wing or Islamic organizations is a legacy from the Cold War and historical threats posed by RaRa, the Red Army Faction and such. Some substance was lent to such paranoia by the confirmation that the Marxist-Leninist Party of the Netherlands was a fake organization set up and entirely controlled by the security service.

It is likely that the AIVD has significant influence in police and prosecution circles, given recent cases where suspected terrorists were prosecuted (and found not guilty) or successfully extradited (Mullah Krekar) without credible non-secret evidence.

Today the AIVD is believed to be one of the most effective secret services of Europe, although there is little known about the AIVD.

References

  1. ^ Globalsecurity.org CIA asked us to let nuclear spy go, Ruud Lubbers claims
  2. ^ Geschiedenis : Andere Tijden : Voorgoed ongeschikt

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Belgian General Information and Security Service — The General Intelligence and Security Service (GISS), known in Dutch as Algemene Dienst Inlichting en Veiligheid (ADIV), and in French as Service Général du Renseignement et de la Sécurité (SGR) is the Belgian military intelligence service under… …   Wikipedia

  • Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service — Militaire Inlichtingen en Veiligheidsdienst (MIVD) is the Military Intelligence and Security Service of the Netherlands. It was formerly known as the Militaire Inlichtingendienst (MID). Contents 1 History 2 Mission 3 Oversight and accountability …   Wikipedia

  • Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service — Military Intelligence and Security Service (Swedish: Militära underrättelse och säkerhetstjänsten), MUST, is a division of the Swedish Armed Forces Central Command. It is responsible for Sweden s military intelligence such as acquiring and… …   Wikipedia

  • Intelligence and Security Committee — The Intelligence and Security Committee is a committee of parliamentarians appointed by the Prime Minister to oversee the work of the Intelligence machinery of the United Kingdom. It was established by the Intelligence Services Act 1994.[1]… …   Wikipedia

  • United States Army Intelligence and Security Command — The United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), a direct reporting unit that conducts intelligence, security, and information operations for military commanders and national decision makers. INSCOM is both an organization… …   Wikipedia

  • Department of Intelligence and Security — The Department of Intelligence and Security (DIS[citation needed]) (Arabic: إدارة الاستخبارات والأمن‎) is the Algerian state intelligence service. Its existence dates back to the struggle for independence. Contents 1 Formation 2 Organisation …   Wikipedia

  • Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) — The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) is an independent statutory office holder in the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for reviewing the activities of the six agencies which collectively comprise the Australian… …   Wikipedia

  • United States Army Intelligence and Security Command — INSCOM Emblem des INSCOM Aufstellung 1977 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (New Zealand) — The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security is a New Zealand official who is responsible for supervising the country s two main intelligence agencies, the Security Intelligence Service and the Government Communications Security Bureau. The …   Wikipedia

  • Information and Security Service of the Republic of Moldova — Serviciul de Informaţii şi Securitate al Republicii Moldova SIS 180px Agency overview Formed November 16, 1999 as the Information and Security Service of the Republic of Moldova …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”