Government unaware of Dutch involvement in Iran nuclear weapons programme sabotage
In 2007, a spy from the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) planted a destructive computer virus at an Iranian nuclear site, halting the Iranian nuclear weapons programme. Dutch newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’ has revealed that the AIVD kept the crucial role of the Dutch spy a secret from the government.
Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, told the Dutch public broadcaster NOS that he finds this course of events most concerning. On withholding information from the government, he says: ‘That should definitely not be possible. A spy was appointed, sent on a secret mission and no one was aware of it. And that mission could have put us in direct conflict with Iran. The government should control crucial aspects of what’s going on there.’
Voermans refers to the existence of the ‘Commissie Stiekem’, a special committee that the Dutch intelligence services is obliged to inform about important activities so that the government maintains control of those services. This committee had not been informed of the sabotage mission in Iran.
More information?
The full article (in Dutch) is available here. You can also read the investigative article by de Volkskrant (€) on which the NOS news item is based. The Dutch documentary ‘Niemand die het ziet’ shows how de Volkskrant journalist Huib Modderkolk developed the story.
Photo at top of article: Sergiu Nista via Unsplash.