“It’s not as if there’s a note saying, ‘Greetings from Russia’ or ‘Greetings from Iran,’” according to Youssef , director of intelligence and national threats at the Netherlands’ National Investigations and Special Operations unit. “Sometimes it’s simply: ‘Do you want to set fire to something for €5,000?’”
“Until recently, you mainly saw intelligence services themselves carrying out actions,” he added. “What we see now is that citizens, for payment, for adventure, or for some other reason, are lending themselves for such tasks.”
Ait Daoud warns the growing use of civilian recruits reflects a broader shift in how foreign intelligence services conduct operations — one that complicates efforts to counter their activities.
The warning comes against a backdrop of vandalism, espionage, sabotage and disinformation that has been described as a campaign of attacks carried out in Europe, where intelligence agencies are consistently warn about threats from Russia, China, and Iran.
In Germany, authorities launched a media campaign cautioning citizens against becoming “disposable agents.”
Ait Daoud leads a newly created police team tasked with enforcing the Netherlands’ expanded anti-espionage law, which makes it a crime to pass information or objects to foreign governments even when they don’t concern state secrets.
Fighting foreign interference is less straightforward than combating terrorism, said Ait Daoud, who spent three years at the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism before taking on his new role.
Source: Eva Hartog, Politico: Ordinary European civilians are increasingly being recruited by foreign intelligence services for espionage and sabotage, says expert