Academic: Prime Minister Disturbed Work of Intelligence Agency

Prof. Bob de Graaff, an expert on intelligence work, has said that the Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende (Christian Democrat) severely hindered the work of the Dutch Intelligence Services in preparation for the war in Iraq. From the report by the Davids Inquiry Commission, it emerges that the British and the Americans provided secret information directly to the prime minister’s office behind the back of the general intelligence service AIVD and the military service MIVD. This caused great annoyance in the intelligence services. The MIVD later discovered that the information it had received from the British was far more neutral than what the prime minister had gotten. De Graaff says that from the Davids Report, it becomes clear that warnings and nuances from Dutch intelligence services were neglected by the cabinet.
www.nrc.nl/binnenland/article2471952.ece/Balkenende_hinderde_werk_AIVD