The AIVD continues to warn against the theft of knowledge

The world has not become a safer place, according to the annual report (in Dutch) published on Thursday by the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD). In it, the service outlines the threats facing the Netherlands.

It is not just about the danger of attacks by extremists or sabotage by hostile powers. The service has also been warning for years about the threat to knowledge security.

“In the Netherlands, companies, knowledge institutions and the government possess specialised knowledge and technology that cannot be obtained at that level anywhere else in the world,” writes the AIVD. Other countries are also interested in this.

The annual report refers to technology as ‘crown jewels’ and cites quantum technology and semiconductors as examples, which can dramatically increase the computing power of computers. Universities and colleges also possess such sensitive knowledge.

China

The agency highlights in particular China’s attempts to acquire such knowledge and technology. The country is said to be attracting Western researchers in order to bring that knowledge in-house. In addition, China deliberately sends students and researchers to the West. They do not necessarily come here as spies, but they can be pressured to share the technological knowledge they have acquired, according to the AIVD.

Delta previously conducted extensive research into the leakage of knowledge from Delft and the Netherlands to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and established, amongst other things, that dozens of Chinese military scientists were conducting PhD research at TU Delft. Some of them subsequently joined the People’s Liberation Army. Delta also discovered that scientists from Delft were, often unintentionally, collaborating with Chinese scientists from military institutes. This led to growing concerns about knowledge security.

The agency does not provide details of exactly what took place over the past year, but it is reported that several attempts to acquire knowledge here in the Netherlands were thwarted.
Other countries are also mentioned in the annual report as knowledge thieves, such as North Korea and Russia. Russian spies are said to use, among other things, “various cover stories, such as scientist or journalist”.

Knowledge security

The government has been working since 2022 on a bill designed to enhance knowledge security in higher education. Master’s students and researchers will soon be required to undergo vetting if they wish to work in sensitive fields.

Universities have criticised the introduction of this law. They fear that the Netherlands will shut itself away behind its dykes and stifle the international cooperation from which science benefits so much. Moreover, the costs could rise significantly, whilst the screening would mainly provide a ‘false sense of security’.
However, the screening bill has not yet been tabled. This will not happen this year either, Education Minister Rianne Letschert told the House of Representatives earlier this month.

Left-wing extremism

In addition to information security, the AIVD report discusses the activities of far-left extremist movements, which frequently targeted universities, amongst other places. It reportedly involved a strikingly high number of incidents of graffiti and vandalism at buildings belonging to organisations allegedly involved in arms supplies to the Israeli armed forces or in the activities of Jewish settlers in the West Bank. However, according to the AIVD, the threat posed by this movement was minimal. “Although these actions could be disruptive, they generally did not threaten the democratic legal order.”

HOP, Bas Belleman