General Intelligence and Security Service

Old Logo of AIVD

The General Intelligence and Security Service (Dutch: Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst (AIVD), Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɑlɣəmeːnə ˈɪnlɪxtɪŋə(n) ɛn ˈvɛi̯ləxɦɛi̯dzdinst]), formerly known as the Domestic Security Service (Dutch: Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst (BVD)), is the secret service of the Netherlands. The office is in Zoetermeer. Its predecessor was the 1945–1947 Bureau of National Security (Dutch: Bureau voor Nationale Veiligheid).

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.

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 two bodies:

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:

Methods and authorities

Its methods and authorities include:

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.

Criticism

The service has been criticized for:

During the Cold War the BVD had a reputation for interviewing potential employers of persons they deemed suspicious for any reason, thereby worrying corporations about 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.[3]

Influence and results

It is often said that the Netherlands has the largest absolute number of wiretaps and internet taps in the world,[4][5][6][7][8] but first that refers to police wiretaps, and second, that's because Dutch police rarely uses other observation methods like infiltration or bugging houses.

The service's focus on leftist activism is legendary; leftist activists exhibit great measures of paranoia relating to the service's activities, whether real or imaginary. 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.

References

External links

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