Ministry of Defence (Netherlands)

Dutch Ministry of Defence in The Hague

Netherlands

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

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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 Hans Hillen.

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.

List of Ministers of Defence

Minister of Defence	In Office	Party	Prime Minister	Cabinet	Note(s)
Jo Meynen	June 24, 1945 - July 3, 1946	Anti Revolutionary Party	Wim Schermerhorn	Schermerhorn-Drees	Minister of War
Jim de Booy	February 23, 1945 – July 3, 1946	Liberal (No Party)	Wim Schermerhorn	Schermerhorn-Drees	Minister of the Marine
Alexander Fiévez	July 3, 1946 - August 7, 1948	Catholic People's Party	Louis Beel	Beel I	Minister of War Minister of the Marine (July 3, 1946 - August 7, 1946 / November 24, 1947 - August 7, 1948)
Jules Schagen van Leeuwen	August 7, 1946 - November 24, 1947	None	Louis Beel	Beel I	Minister of the Marine (Resigned)
Wim Schokking	August 7, 1948 - October 15, 1950	Christian Historical Union	Willem Drees	Drees-Van Schaik	Minister of War and Minister of the Marine (Resigned)
Hans s'Jacob	October 16, 1950 - March 15, 1951	Christian Historical Union	Willem Drees	Drees-Van Schaik	Minister of War and Minister of the Marine
Kees Staf	March 15, 1951 - May 19, 1959	Christian Historical Union	Willem Drees (1951–1958) Louis Beel (1958–1959)	Drees I Drees II Drees III Beel II
Sidney J. van den Bergh	May 19, 1959 - August 1, 1959	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	Jan de Quay	De Quay	(Resigned)
Jan de Quay	August 1, 1959 - September 4, 1959	Catholic People's Party	Jan de Quay	De Quay	Prime Minister (Ad interim)
Sim Visser	September 4, 1959 – July 24, 1963	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	Jan de Quay	De Quay
Piet de Jong	July 24, 1963 – April 5, 1967	Catholic People's Party	Victor Marijnen (1963–1965) Jo Cals (1965–1966) Jelle Zijlstra (1966–1967)	Marijnen Cals Zijlstra
Willem den Toom	April 5, 1967 – July 6, 1971	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	Piet de Jong	De Jong
Hans de Koster	July 6, 1971 – May 11, 1973	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	Barend Biesheuvel	Biesheuvel I Biesheuvel II
Henk Vredeling	May 11, 1973 – January 1, 1977	Labour Party	Joop den Uyl	Den Uyl	(Resigned)
Bram Stemerdink	January 1, 1977 - December 19, 1977	Labour Party	Joop den Uyl	Den Uyl
Roelof Kruisinga	December 19, 1977 - March 4, 1978	Christian Historical Union	Dries van Agt	Van Agt I	(Resigned)
Jan de Koning	March 4, 1978 - March 8, 1978	Anti Revolutionary Party	Dries van Agt	Van Agt I	Minister for Development Cooperation (Ad interim)
Willem Scholten	March 8, 1978 - August 25, 1980	Christian Historical Union	Dries van Agt	Van Agt I	(Resigned)
Pieter de Geus	August 25, 1980 - September 11, 1981	Christian Historical Union (On October 11, 1980 merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal)	Dries van Agt	Van Agt I
Hans van Mierlo	September 11, 1981 – November 4, 1982	Democrats 66	Dries van Agt	Van Agt II Van Agt III
Job de Ruiter	November 4, 1982 - July 14, 1986	Christian Democratic Appeal	Ruud Lubbers	Lubbers I
Wim van Eekelen	July 14, 1986 - September 6, 1988	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	Ruud Lubbers	Lubbers II	(Resigned)
Piet Bukman	September 6, 1988 - September 23, 1988	Christian Democratic Appeal	Ruud Lubbers	Lubbers II	Minister for Development Cooperation (Ad interim)
Frits Bolkestein	September 24, 1988 - November 7, 1989	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	Ruud Lubbers	Lubbers II
Relus ter Beek	November 7, 1989 – August 22, 1994	Labour Party	Ruud Lubbers	Lubbers III
Joris Voorhoeve	August 22, 1994 - August 3, 1998	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	Wim Kok	Kok I
Frank de Grave	August 3, 1998 – July 22, 2002	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	Wim Kok	Kok II
Benk Korthals	July 22, 2002 – December 12, 2002	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	Jan Peter Balkenende	Balkenende I	(Resigned)
Henk Kamp	December 12, 2002 – February 22, 2007	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	Jan Peter Balkenende	Balkenende I Balkenende II Balkenende III
Eimert van Middelkoop	February 22, 2007 – October 14, 2010	ChristianUnion	Jan Peter Balkenende	Balkenende IV
Hans Hillen	Since October 14, 2010	Christian Democratic Appeal	Mark Rutte	Rutte

See also

• Defence Diplomacy

External links

• Ministry of Defence