NOS News•yesterday, 1:31 PM
Daily cyber attacks, foiled attack plans and two major wars: according to the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD), 2023 was a year in which the threats against the Netherlands increased rather than decreased. “The grim picture that the AIVD painted last year has become worse in many respects,” the secret service writes in its annual report.
Western intelligence and security services, including the AIVD, “discovered and foiled at least a dozen attack plans in Europe,” the report says.
The most important terrorist threat to the Netherlands is and remains jihadism, according to the AIVD. There have been fewer attacks in Europe in recent years, but according to the service, certain events can provoke violence.
Two such trigger events took place last year or started then: Koran destruction and the war in Gaza. Terror organizations such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State used this as an opportunity to call on their followers to commit attacks in the West.
In mid-December, the Netherlands therefore raised the threat level from 3 to 4. This means that there is a real chance that an attack will take place in the Netherlands. The AIVD also points to four terrorism cases in which suspects were arrested in the Netherlands last year, including a 16-year-old boy.
Threat is more urgent
Furthermore, the service recently established that a small number of so-called sovereigns are prepared to commit violence. The service classifies them as anti-institutional extremists, who believe that laws and rules do not apply to them. Some take shooting lessons and fighting training. “Most people use war language,” writes the AIVD, “but some threatened local administrators with death last year.”
According to AIVD director Erik Akerboom, the threats were also more urgent last year. He points to the sharp increase in the number of so-called emergency charges. These are cases in which the service asks the minister for permission to quickly deploy a special intelligence tool. This could, for example, involve hacking or eavesdropping. The number of emergency charges increased by 71 percent last year. It is not clear exactly how many cases are involved.
More attention to China
The AIVD once again pays a lot of attention to China in the annual report. According to the intelligence service, that country continues to affect the earning capacity of the Dutch business community “through cyber attacks, use of espionage, insiders, secret investments and illegal exports”. The agency acknowledges that it does not have enough people and resources to tackle the Chinese threat and says it must “intensify investigations into China.”
In addition, Russia continues to actively spy in the Netherlands and the country is also trying to influence public opinion, the AIVD reports. For example, last year Russia appeared to have a hand in demonstrations against Western support for Ukraine.
