On 20 May, the auditors of the High Studies for Security and Defence had the opportunity to discover the Belgian intelligence services, i.e. the General Intelligence and Security Service (ADIV/SGRS, or the military intelligence service) and the State Security (VSSE, or the civilian intelligence service), as well as the service in charge of their supervision: the Standing Intelligence Agencies Review Committee (better known as “Committee I”). This meeting took place in the Queen Elisabeth Quarters in Evere. The day started off with a joint presentation by Vice Admiral Wim Robberecht, head of ADIV/SGRS, and Ms Francisca Bostyn, administrator-general of the VSSE, followed by a Q&A session with the auditors. Both were very open to the discussion and emphasised the importance of close collaboration between both services. The auditors were then given several talks on notions like IMINT, GEOINT, SOCMINT, “fake news” – or, to be more exact, disinformation –, cybernetics and its dangers and opportunities and, finally, the control mechanisms for the special intelligence methods.

Session 2020-2021