Belgium: spying on activists admitted
01 November 1995
The Belgian Government has admitted spying on the peace and green movement. In an answer given in the Senate the Belgian Minister of Defence Poncelet admitted they spied on activists who he claimed were targeting military installations. The minister also confirmed that intelligence units were still active within Germany. He did however deny other allegations claiming that Belgium was operating an eavesdropping centre.
The article in De Morgen makes three allegations. It claims that an illegal secret GCHQ-style eavesdropping centre operates in Peutie barracks under responsibility of the Belgian military intelligence service SGR. The paper also says that the NVD has maintained and even increased its targeting of activists within Belgium, focusing particularly on the peace and green movements. There are also allegations that the Belgian state maintains a fully operational counter-intelligence unit in Germany five years after the cold war came to an end.
When asked about these allegations minister Poncelet claimed that the article "mixed correct information with untruths". He admitted that there was a military installation at Peutie but denied that it was an intelligence-gathering centre. He also agreed that intelligence operatives were active in Germany but claimed that they were there primarily to look after the interests of the Belgian troops that remained in Germany. He did however concede that the NVD had been targeting activists within the green and peace movements, stating that this was necessary to protect military sites from actions carried out by activists.
The Dutch intelligence historian, F Kluiters, disclosed in a new book that the post and telephone service, PTT, intercepted since the end of the Second World War until the begin of the eighties thousands of telegrams each day. The Bijzondere Radiodienst (BRD, special radio service) of the PTT ran an interception station in Burum (later Zoutkamp) for the navy. The under PTT-cover received material (telegrams, telephone and satellite communication) was relayed to a navy intelligence listening post. The processed intelligence was than distributed to other intelligence services and government departments. There was no legal basis for this operation.
De Morgen, 27.10.95; Utrechts Nieuwsblad, 13.11.95; VeeDee AMOK, no 4, 1995; Parliamentary question, 12.10.95.