THE HAGUE, 03/02/06 - Defence Minister Henk Kamp yesterday suspended an army captain with immediate effect. He lost a memory stick with secret information on the Dutch troops in Afghanistan.
The army captain, who was in Afghanistan for five months last year, left the stick with secret information in a rented car. The finders returned it, but first put the data on their own computer. They gave the data to TV programme RTL Nieuws, which announced this on Wednesday evening.
Kamp spoke yesterday of a "serious incident" and a "serious violation of service regulations." He suspects that the captain has committed a "punishable offence." Foreign Minister Ben Bot termed the affair worrying. The Lower House also reacted with shock. Labour (PvdA) MP Timmermans fumed that "the defence organisation is as leaky as a sieve."
Conservative (VVD) MP Van Baalen fears that foreign intelligence services could now be cautious about sharing information with the Netherlands, which could endanger the safety of the Dutch soldiers in Uruzgan province. Kamp however said yesterday that there is "no direct risk for ongoing or proposed missions" in Afghanistan due to the leak.
RTL Nieuws said the information included details about Kamp's personal security during a visit to Afghanistan, at which the captain was present. Kamp said yesterday that the memory stick was the private property of the captain containing "professional and personal data." The information on Afghanistan was on "transfer data at the relieving of troops in Kandahar."
According to security expert R. Vleugels, the information on the stick is non encrypted, although that is required. Additionally, there is private as well as operational data, which is also against regulations. The stick contained "hard information" on the Afghan operation, according to Vleugels.
Recently, very sensitive information from government services has landed up on the street a number of times. Crime reporter Peter R. de Vries obtained a floppy left by a secret service (AIVD) staff member in a car, and a member of the military intelligence service (MIVD) also lost a memory-stick earlier this month.
