General Intelligence and Security Service - Methods and Authorities

Methods and Authorities

Its methods and authorities include

• telephone and internet taps authorized by the minister of internal affairs (as opposed to a court order)
• infiltration (rarely by employees of the service, but rather by outsiders who would have easy access to a particular group)
• the use of informants (existing members of groups that are recruited)
• open sources intelligence
• unfettered access to police intelligence
• the use of foreign intelligence service liaisons who reside in the Netherlands under a diplomatic status (including full diplomatic immunity) to collect intelligence in excess of the AIVD's authority

The latter is technically the same as sourcing intelligence from a foreign intelligence service; this method has not been confirmed.

The AIVD operates in tight concert with the Regional Intelligence Service (Regionale Inlichtingen Dienst, RID), to which members of the police are appointed in every police district. It also co-operates with over one hundred intelligence services. Given the small size of the Netherlands, the latter co-operation is not likely to be symmetrical.