Working Worldwide for the Security of the Netherlands Working Worldwide for the Security of the Netherlands Summary The Netherlands is in many respects a very safe country, but the world does not stand still. The security situation of the Kingdom has changed in recent years. In some respects, it has got worse. Shifts in the balance of geopolitical and economic power, instability and insecurity around Europe and the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom, accelerated technological developments, a rise in hybrid conflicts and tensions within the Netherlands and Europe are increasingly affecting our security. That is clear from a series of cyber incidents, the realistic threat of a terrorist attack (the threat level is ‘substantial’), the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine, and various examples of hostile foreign intervention. The threat posed by terrorist and cyberattacks, undesirable foreign intervention and subversion, military pressure and attacks on our vital economic processes is urgent and calls for an effective security policy. |6| Because the international environment has a growing impact on our national security, the government decided to draw up this Integrated International Security Strategy (IISS). With the IISS the government steps up its contribution to international security and provides the strategic framework for a secure Netherlands. It offers guidance for what the government does beyond our borders to ensure the safety of the Dutch people, the Netherlands and the Kingdom as a whole. As announced in the coalition agreement, it replaces the existing International Security Strategy. The security approach of the IISS rests on three pillars: preventing, defending and strengthening. To withstand threats to our security in the years ahead, specific goals have been formulated within the three pillars. The aim is to provide an anticipatory and preventive security approach over the long term. The strategy focuses on preventing insecurity wherever possible, and takes an effective and modern approach to defending the Netherlands against insecurity wherever necessary. This includes ensuring credible deterrence, together with our allies, and devoting attention to the root causes of terrorism, irregular migration, poverty and climate change, as specified in the coalition agreement. Geographically, the strategy focuses more sharply on Europe and the Kingdom, and it will be linked to the investments in diplomacy, the armed forces, development cooperation, cybersecurity and the Netherlands’ intelligence and information situation also announced in the coalition agreement. Lastly, strengthening the foundations of our security – promoting the international legal order and an effective multilateral system – is crucial to the security of the Kingdom. Our efforts abroad to ensure the Netherlands’ security require a human approach (human security), as called for by the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR). The basic principles of such an approach are a focus on individual interests and freedoms, the realisation that threats within and outside the Netherlands have become increasingly interconnected, action based on specific Dutch expertise and added value, and alignment with international priorities, including those of NATO, the EU and the UN. Protecting the links that guarantee our security and generate prosperity (flow security) is also an important part of the strategy. Implementing the IISS requires policy coherence, with a close alignment of strategic goals and the deployment of the wide range of available instruments. For that reason, the IISS is linked to choices made in adjacent policy areas, including the modernisation and strengthening of the armed forces (as described in the Defence White Paper1), policy on foreign trade and development cooperation (on which a new policy document is forthcoming), diplomacy enhancement (the government’s letter to parliament on the mission network), the integrated migration agenda, measures to improve economic security, policy on the intelligence and security services, the National Cyber Security Strategy, the Digitisation Programme, international policing strategy and the National Counterterrorism Strategy. No new consultation or decision-making structures have been created for the IISS. Strategic efforts within the three pillars (preventing, defending and strengthening) will be embedded in ministerial and interministerial policy and operational plans. The international security efforts encapsulated in these plans will be implemented, and the goals identified for each pillar will be pursued, in close alignment with the IISS. The strategy will be implemented within the existing policy frameworks of the government bodies involved. Every two years the government will submit a report on the progress of the IISS to the House of Representatives. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will play a coordinating role, and in doing so, it will take account of evolving global trends and threats and associated changes to strategic goals. The IISS has been formulated partly on the basis of informal input and comments by experts and civil society organisations, public consultations (through www.internetconsultatie.nl) and a ‘flash poll’ on international security among more than 1,000 interested members of the Dutch public. Our thanks to all those who contributed. 1. https://english.defensie.nl/downloads/policy-notes/2018/03/26/defence-white-paper |7|