Minister of Internal Affairs Ollongren has wrongly given the AIVD several times in the past year to use special powers, according to the annual report ( pdf ) of the Review Committee for the deployment of powers (TIB).

The new Intelligence and Security Services Act (Wiv 2017) gives the intelligence services special powers for intercepting and storing internet cable traffic, as well as a more extensive hacking power. In addition, the law allows the services to hack third party devices that are not themselves a target of the services. If the services want to use these powers, they must submit a request to the minister. When the minister approves the request, the TIB checks whether the minister's consent has been lawfully granted.

From 1 May 2018 to 1 April 2019, the TIB reviewed a total of 2159 requests from GISS and MIVD. In 4.5 percent of the AIVD's requests, the TIB ruled that the minister had granted the permission unlawfully. In the case of the MIVD, where Defense Minister Bijleveld assesses the requests, 5.8 percent of the requests were wrongly approved.

The main reasons for assessing requests as unlawful are the lack of proportionality and / or subsidiarity of the use of the power. "A significant percentage of the permissions granted have been judged to be unlawful because the intended deployment was not proportional (or the proportionality was not adequately justified). The breach of privacy that would have been associated with it differs between a single individual and millions of people" thus the regulator.

Cable interception
A major change in the Wiv 2017 compared to the Wiv 2002 is the power to obtain large amounts of data via cable tapping. "This inevitably includes data from many people who are not in the attention of the services," said the TIB. In the past year, the regulator received two requests from the AIVD and MIVD that had been approved by the ministers to tap the cable traffic.

At the first request, the TIB ruled that the requested deployment was not proportionate and not as targeted as possible and that the ministers had wrongly granted permission. A new request for cable interception was made in 2019, the scope of which was limited. Nevertheless, these requests also raised questions about the most targeted possible deployment. After further information, the regulator came to the conclusion that the permission had been granted lawfully this time.