What was a Dutch James Bond doing abroad? An obvious question since it has been revealed that an agent of the AIVD intelligence service was expelled by Turkey last year – one of the rare occasions that the AIVD’s foreign desk has been in the news.

Jurist and 'intelligence watcher' Roger Vleugels points out that there are many misconceptions about the AIVD: "A lot of people think they only deal with domestic issues but the service has had a foreign desk since 2002 – staffed by around 400 people, a quarter of the AIVD’s total personnel."

Kurdish conflict
One of the foreign desk’s duties is to identify radical Islamic groups and determine what kind of threat they pose to the Netherlands. This has been more a priority since 9/11. The service is also interested in immigration. Which countries do people come from to live in the Netherlands and what kind of attitudes and ideas may they have brought with them?

"A third and possibly the most important aim is to discover what effect the jihad, migration and other developments may have on law and order and security in the Netherlands. For example, the Kurdish conflict in Turkey: if it escalates, it can increase tensions between the Turkish and Kurdish communities in the Netherlands. We actually saw that happening last year."

Forehead stamped
There were fierce protests by Dutch Turks in various towns and cities in October in reaction to violence by the Kurdish PKK separatist movement in Turkey. In Amsterdam the protest turned to rioting in which several people were injured.

According to the Dutch media the AIVD agent, who was attached to the embassy in Ankara as a diplomat, was collecting information about the Turkish Islamist movement Hizbullah. The AIVD and other official bodies are not prepared to say anything about the case, except that the man acted as liaison officer with the Turkish secret service and had accreditation from the Turkish authorities. An intelligence spokesperson remarked "You might say he had AIVD stamped on his forehead."

Infiltration
Roger Vleugels says most of the staff on the foreign desk work at headquarters in the Dutch town of Zoetermeer: "But there are also dozens of AIVD people working abroad, in 20 countries – Oman, Ankara, Caracas, Washington, Moscow... Some of them are independent posts but others are attached to embassies, like Ankara. In the Middle East there are also travelling posts."

Most of the staffs there are desk workers assigning other people: "We’re talking about another couple of hundred people. Foreign espionage is about a lot more people who are on the payroll." Dutch embassy staff may, for instance, be given instructions and perform intelligence tasks at receptions or with other contacts. "In the case of Turkey, they also send people to infiltrate the Kurdish community."

Suspicious
Journalists are popular as informers, Vleugels adds: "Journalists have virtually automatic cover. When spies infiltrate somewhere, they have to have a cover story to explain what they’re doing there. Journalists don’t need one. They have legitimate reasons to go anywhere. Asking too many questions tends to make people suspicious but they are accustomed to journalists asking irritating questions at the wrong times."

He is not prepared to name names, but Vleugels says he knows quite a few journalists in his circle who have been approached by the AIVD. As a jurist, he assists reporters demanding to look at government documents.

We can only guess why the Dutch diplomat was expelled. It’s also not clear whether the usual reaction followed: a tit-for-tat expulsion of a Turkish diplomat from the Netherlands.

(imm/mw)