---

Ministry of Defence (Netherlands)

From MedBib.com - Medicine & Nature

Netherlands

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the Netherlands

Kingdom Council of Ministers Minister Plenipotentiary of Aruba Minister Plenipotentiary of the Netherlands Antilles Constitution Charter Constitution Human Rights Monarchy Queen Beatrix Prince Willem-Alexander (heir apparent) States-General Senate Historic composition House of Representatives Current composition Historic composition Cabinet Cabinet list current Prime Minister list current Political parties Liberal Socialist Christian Democratic Elections 2010 general 2010 municipal 2009 European 2007 provincial 2006 general 2006 municipal 2005 referendum Decentralized gov't Provincial politics in the Netherlands Water board Municipal politics in the Netherlands Foreign policy Politics of the European Union Foreign relations Missions to the Netherlands Missions of the Netherlands Related subjects High Councils of State National Ombudsman Council of State Court of Audit Social Economic Council Supreme Court Dutch Central Bank Contemporary history Politicians

Other countries · Atlas Politics portal view • talk • edit

The Netherlands Ministry of Defence (Ministerie van Defensie) governs the Netherlands Armed Forces. The Minister is assisted by a State Secretary. The current Minister is Eimert van Middelkoop, the current State Secretary is Jack de Vries.

Contents 1 Responsibilities 2 Organisation 3 History 4 Ministers and State Secretaries 5 External links

Responsibilities

The ministry has the responsibility for:

• protecting the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (which includes the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba) and her allies;
• protecting and enhancing the international legal system and stability;
• supporting civil authorities in maintaining order, in case of emergencies and in giving humanitarian aid, both national and international.

Organisation

The ministry consists of the Minister and the State Secretary of Defence, the so called Central Staff, the Netherlands Armed Forces, and two supporting organisations.

The Central Staff of the ministry is led by the Secretary-General, the highest civil servant. The most important elements of the Central Staff are:

• several directorates for policy, personnel, materiel and finance
• the Defence Staff
• the Defence Audit Service
• the Security Authority
• the Military Intelligence and Security Service
• the Military Aviation Authority

The highest military official is the Commander of the Armed Forces (Commandant der Strijdkrachten). He is a four star general and controls the branches of the armed forces, which are organised in three operational commands:

• the Royal Netherlands Navy Command;
• the Royal Netherlands Army Command;
• the Royal Netherlands Air Force Command.

The fourth branch of service, the Royal Netherlands Constabulary, falls directly under the Secretary-General.

The armed forces are supported by two civil organisations that reside under the Ministry of Defence:

• a Support Command (Commando DienstenCentra); and
• the Defence Materiel Organisation (Defensie Materieel Organisatie).

The ministry employs over 70,000 civil and military personnel.

History

Since 1813 the Netherlands had a ministry of War and a ministry of the Navy. In 1928 these merged to form the Ministry of Defence, but between 1945-1959 the ministries were separated again. In this period the minister of War and the Navy were often the same person and the state secretary of the Navy was responsible for daily affairs. In 1959 the ministries were merged.

Ministers and State Secretaries

Since 1989 the following politicians have been minister and state secretary of Defence:

Period	Minister	State Secretary
1989-1993	Relus ter Beek (PvdA)	Berend-Jan van Voorst tot Voorst (CDA)
1993-1994	Relus ter Beek (PvdA)	Ton Frinking (CDA)
1994-1998	Joris Voorhoeve (VVD)	Jan Gmelich Meijling (VVD)
1998-2002	Frank de Grave (VVD)	Henk van Hoof (VVD)
2002	Benk Korthals (VVD)	Cees van der Knaap (CDA)
2002-2007	Henk Kamp (VVD)	Cees van der Knaap (CDA)
2007	Eimert van Middelkoop (CU)	Cees van der Knaap (CDA)
2007-now	Eimert van Middelkoop (CU)	Jack de Vries (CDA)

External links

• Ministry of Defence

v • d • e Military of the Netherlands under the command of the Ministry of Defence Royal Netherlands Army · Royal Netherlands Navy · Royal Netherlands Air Force · Royal Marechaussee

v • d • e Dutch ministries General Affairs • Interior and Kingdom Relations (Netherlands) • Foreign Affairs • Defence • Economic Affairs • Finance • Justice • Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality • Education, Culture and Science • Social Affairs and Employment • Transport, Public Works and Water Management • Health, Welfare and Sport • Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment

---

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
All material adapted used from Wikipedia is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
Seeking health information online: does Wikipedia matter?

---

---