“… But what you are now seeing in the United States —so blatant, and happening so quickly— is that those intelligence services are truly being set to work for the president. They are being used to serve the president’s interests. Yes, I think that has caused some alarm here. Because that is a scenario no one wants to end up in. It’s a nightmare scenario for democracy. …”
Are intelligence agencies a threat to democracy? In more and more countries, we see those in power misusing intelligence services to strengthen their own influence and suppress political opposition at an early stage. How can an institution intended to protect the rule of law become a threat to it instead? And could this also happen in the Netherlands? Legal experts Bart Jacobs and Rowin Jansen wrote the book Democratie onder druk. Over de geheime diensten in turbulente tijden.
Listen to this podcast to learn more about how the abuse of intelligence services can also pose a danger to democracy in the Netherlands.
The language of this podcast is Dutch.
More information: see the Dutch page