There's a War Going on but No One Can See It by Huib Modderkolk

Author:Huib Modderkolk [Modderkolk, Huib]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781526629371
Google: RyEoEAAAQBAJ
Published: 2021-09-02T02:51:54.791142+00:00

8

Conspiracy in Amsterdam

N. was no technology expert. Nonetheless, in 2013 she was put in charge of the Russia and China Team in the AIVD’s Digital Espionage unit, or ‘dispi’ as insiders called it. N., raised a Catholic, was a career woman who’d worked her way up through the ranks. Starting out as a translator, she was promoted to desk jobs, sent out on assignment a few times – once to a country in the Middle East – and finally promoted to team leader. Her expertise was in counter-espionage – finding out how and where other countries were spying on the Netherlands – and in 2013 her task was to map out the digital threat coming from the East.

At fifty-three, N.’s leadership style was business-like: risk-averse, analytical, cautious and observant. She wasn’t exactly someone you’d pour out your heart to, though those who managed to break through her armour got to know a more sociable side.

N. had been heading the Russia Team for about a year when the AIVD got a request from the United States. The FBI wanted to gain covert access, also known as ‘surreptitious entry’, to a target. It concerned a spy assignment in downtown Amsterdam. The operation would be carried out by the CIA in the Netherlands, but because of its technical complexity they hoped the AIVD could assist.

The request didn’t come at the best time, coinciding with high-level discussions over the once so solid relationship between the US and the Netherlands. Edward Snowden had just revealed that the US was spying around the world on a massive scale, and in the Netherlands, politicians and intelligence services were demanding answers. Had the NSA been eavesdropping in the Netherlands, too? Which NSA documents specifically had been taken? And did any of them say anything about Dutch operations?

On 11 October 2013, Dutch Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk and the directors of Dutch intelligence hosted NSA chief Keith Alexander on what was meant to be a conciliatory visit. Holland was certainly not an NSA target, Alexander said. ‘We don’t collect on the Netherlands.’ The reason was simple: whatever the Americans asked, the Dutch delivered. The AIVD and MIVD kept few secrets from the US. The way the relationship worked was that the Dutch shared, regardless of what they got in return. The CIA shared very little, mostly briefings and intelligence reports. The NSA were more forthcoming, and even shared raw data.

To gauge the leak’s impact on Dutch operations, the AIVD and MIVD asked Alexander for a list of the stolen documents. Alexander assured them he understood their concern, apologised, and said his staff were working on it. ‘We’ll send an overview as soon as it’s finished.’ That was an empty promise: only bits and pieces of information, less detailed than the Dutch agencies had hoped for, would trickle in over the years that followed.

During his visit, Alexander announced that, in view of the leak, the NSA would henceforth be sharing less with allies. The Dutch agencies were astonished. Here the Americans

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