That reports NRC. According to the newspaper, the defense has few powers to collect data on a large scale on Dutch soil.
Predict social unrest
The newspaper writes that large amounts of data on various subjects ended up in a computer system built by Defense. For example, the army wanted to automatically predict a corona wave or social unrest.
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The information is collected by the Land Information Maneuver Center (LIMC), which was established in March. Not only distribution points of the Andere Krant, the ‘alternative’ medium Jensen.nl was also monitored. The Ministry of Defense also mapped out where 5G transmission towers were set on fire.
No powers
Defense is not allowed much on its own territory, writes the NRC. Soldiers are allowed to assist the police, a ministry or intelligence services if they request it. Defense personnel, however, then act according to the rules and supervision of that authority. In this case, the LIMC acted on its own initiative.
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Defense reports in a response to the NRC that it has not broken the rules. For example, the LICM would only have used public sources and the analyzes are for internal use only. However, research by the newspaper shows that the analyzes were also shared with the terrorism coordinator NCTV and the National Police.
Confidential Sources
According to the newspaper, Defense also made use of ‘semi-closed sources’, information from military personnel in hospitals and nursing homes. In addition, confidential sources are mentioned in the reports, such as an internal police registration system.
D66 Member of Parliament Salima Belhaj wants a parliamentary debate on the case and tells NRC: “Defense should not take on any tasks of the police or AIVD”.
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