Belgian intelligence services to get extra power
The Committee on Justice in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives began this Tuesday 31 May reviewing a bill that gives Belgian State security agents and the military intelligence service (ADIV in Dutch and SGRS in French) additional tools to carry out their missions and obtain information.
The bill by the ministers of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD) and of Defense Ludivine Dedonder (PS) will notably give agents of both services more opportunities to infiltrate dangerous organizations, whether in the real or virtual world. It should remove a number of obstacles that the services are currently facing in the field.
“We do not give intelligence services a 'carte blanche' to provoke radicalism but, in well-defined circumstances, for example, to provide a service to a potential terrorist in order to be able to continue an undercover mission,” explained Van Quickenborne.
Under strict conditions, they may also commit punishable acts within the framework of their mission and use special research methods to test the reliability, loyalty or discretion of their sources.
The method must be approved in advance by the three magistrates within the BIM committee, which must a priori authorize the use of special intelligence methods.
Strengthening the information position of State Security and the General Intelligence and Security Service (SGRS) was one of the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attacks, further increased with the affair Jürgen Conings who uncovered deficiencies in military intelligence.
The SGRS will also receive expanded possibilities to react in the event of a cyberattack. So far, its action is limited to cases where the military infrastructure is threatened. The service can identify the attacker, neutralize it and, if necessary, launch its own electronic attack.
Instructed by the Conings affair, named after this far-right soldier suspected of having wanted to carry out attacks against certain personalities, the text will ensure that information is exchanged when a threat appears in the context of a security check for the granting of a security clearance.
(VIV)
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© BELGA PHOTO (HATIM KAGHAT) Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne arriving for a Kern meeting, a restricted ministers council meeting in Brussels