The Intelligence and Security Services Regulatory Commission (CTIVD) will launch three investigations into how the General and Military Intelligence and Security Services (AIVD and MIVD) deploy so-called "virtual agents. The investigations will focus on the deployment of virtual agents, the interpretation of the duty of care towards agents and the deployment of journalists as agents. Once the investigations are completed, the results will be made public. The CTIVD announces the investigations on its website.
In the announcement letter, the regulator refers to the power to deploy agents as defined in Section 41 of the Intelligence and Security Services Act (Wiv 2017). This defines what an agent is. According to the article of law, agents are "natural persons, whether or not under cover of an assumed identity or capacity, who, under the responsibility and instruction of a service, are entrusted with the targeted collection of data about persons and organizations that may be of interest for the performance of the service's task."
The AIVD explains it more simply, defining agents as individuals who actively gather specific information for the service. "If an agent travels exclusively on the Internet and tries to gather information there, we call that a virtual agent," the security service said.
In most cases, an agent is a person working outside the organization. In some cases, an agent may be an employee of the security department.
The CTIVD reveals few details about the investigation. All the regulator will say about it is that it involves three investigations being conducted at the AIVD and MIVD. The investigations focus on the deployment of virtual agents, the fulfillment of the duty of care regarding the mental well-being of agents, and the deployment of journalists as agents.
What prompted the investigations is being left open by the CTIVD. Once the investigations are completed, the regulator will announce the results. When that will be is unknown.
