Is Belgian military intelligence up to the job?
Questions are being raised about goings on at the Belgian military intelligence service ADIV that is charged with Belgian intelligence work abroad. A complaint has been filed against a division head. He stands accused of espionage, possibly for Russia.
Following the Brussels attacks in 2016 Belgian intelligence services are under pressure. The ADIV too contacts its interlocutors abroad. The division head of the intelligence department reportedly contacted a Serbian woman leading to an exchange of sensitive and confidential information. Counter-intelligence now believes that the Serbian woman was a Russian spy and that the information should never have been exchanged.
It has also emerged that in the fall of 2016 high-ranking officers from the intelligence department twice travelled to the Syrian capital Damascus to negotiate with the regime of President Assad. It is not known whether the then defence minister Steven Vandeput was aware of this demarche at the time.
For years now the intelligence and counter-intelligence departments have been at loggerheads. It's claimed that instead of sharing information, they keep it to themselves.
There is talk of "different cultures" and civilian and military staff struggling to work together. Meanwhile efforts are being made to implement a major reform plan that should put an end to the bickering. Intelligence watchdog Committee I has already commented on the poor operation of military intelligence, while other Belgian intelligence services too have raised questions.