Lessons learned: The Dutch ‘Stay-Behind’ organization 1945–1992

Abstract

Right after World War II, two separate initiatives were taken in the Netherlands to establish a stay-behind organization – or, rather, two stay-behind organizations. Both initiatives were purely Dutch, and both groups, remnants from wartime Dutch intelligence and sabotage organizations, wanted to liaise exclusively with the British. Only later did the Americans become members of what then came to be known as the Tripartite Committee. After a period of about 15 years, during which the Chief of the General Staff loosely coordinated both organizations, known as O (for Operations) and I (for Intelligence), a crisis broke out. The question was whether the two organizations should be amalgamated or not. After much discussion it was decided to keep them separate, but more closely coordinated. The first coordinator of this new type, a non-military man, was appointed in 1967. From that moment on the Dutch stay-behind organization, under supervision of highly respected civilian authorities, was able to perfect its organizational structure. The introduction, during the 1980s, of new specially designed radio equipment made special wireless operators superfluous. This development made for a leaner and more efficient organization.

After the Berlin Wall had come down, and in the wake of the ‘Gladio’ affair in Italy, the Dutch stay-behind organization was dissolved.

Key words:

• Stay-behind
• The Netherlands
• Cold War
• Intelligence
• NATO

Notes

¹This article is an abridged version of the official report that the Dutch government presented to parliament in 2005. The report was commissioned by both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence. The report is based on the archives, or what remains of them, of the two separate elements of the stay-behind organization. These archives have not been declassified, but being the author of the report, I was given free access. The archives are now part of the departmental records of the Cabinet Office and of the Ministry of Defence.

²Enquêtecommissie Regeringstay-behindeleid 1940–1945, deel 4, De Nederlandse geheime diensten te Londen.

³Airey Neave, Saturday at M.I.9 (London: Hodder paperback ed. 1971).

⁴Bureau for National Security.

⁵See Stephen Dorril, MI6: Fifty Years of Special Operations (London: Fourth Estate 2000), 32–3.

⁶Central Security Service.

⁷Security Service for the Interior.

⁸Section for General Affairs.

⁹Foreign Intelligence Service.

¹⁰Major General (ret.) W. den Boer.

¹¹State's Council.

¹²The Dutch equivalent of the French Prefet, a kind of provincial governor.

¹³Non-military resistance.

¹⁴Viceroy.