The Joint Sigint Cyber Unit (JSCU) is a Dutch government organisation, which was founded in 2013 and became operational on June 15, 2014. JSCU's primary tasks are intercepting radio and satellite traffic (

Sigint Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of '' signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ...

) and obtaining intelligence through cyber-operations. The organisation cooperates closely with allied foreign intelligence agencies.

General

The decision to create a joint intelligence organisation was made in 2011. Preparations for the creation of the JSCU began in late 2012, by a joint team from the

General Intelligence and Security Service The General Intelligence and Security Service ( nl, Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst, AIVD; ) is the intelligence and security agency of the Netherlands, tasked with domestic, foreign and signals intelligence and protecting nationa ...

(AIVD) and the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) under the name ''Project Symbolon''. The Joint Sigint Cyber Unit is governed by these two services. The JSCU headquarters is located in the

AIVD The General Intelligence and Security Service ( nl, Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst, AIVD; ) is the intelligence and security agency of the Netherlands, tasked with domestic, foreign and signals intelligence and protecting national s ...

building in

Zoetermeer Zoetermeer () is a city in the Western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. A small village until the late 1960s, it had 6,392 inhabitants in 1950. By 2013 this had grown to 123,328 ...

, and houses approximately 350 employees. Other JSCU divisions are housed with the MIVD in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

. Before the founding of the JSCU, the

Nationale SIGINT Organisatie The Nationale SIGINT Organisatie (NSO) was the Dutch signals intelligence (SIGINT) organisation, which was part of the Ministry of Defence, but worked for both the military intelligence and security agency MIVD as for its civilian counterpart AIV ...

(NSO) was the organisation tasked with interception of radio and satellite traffic. The NSO also operated under the joint command of the AIVD and MIVD. The NSO formally became part of JSCU when it was created on June 15, 2014. The JSCU specializes in

and Cyber. Sigint includes intelligence gathered from (tele)communications. AIVD defines 'Cyber' as a group of activities related to computer networks and data streams. Examples given are mapping out the Internet landscape in (new) mission areas, informing allies about dangerous

computer virus A computer virus is a type of computer program that, when executed, replicates itself by modifying other computer programs and inserting its own code. If this replication succeeds, the affected areas are then said to be "infected" with a comput ...

es, or hacking terrorist websites.

Interception stations

To intercept wireless communication the JSCU operates two interception stations, formerly managed by the NSO: at Burum for the interception of satellite traffic and at

Eibergen Eibergen ( Low Saxon: ''Eibarge'') is a town and former municipality in Gelderland in the Eastern Netherlands. It is part of the Achterhoek cultural region. The administrative cooperation of about 20 municipalities in this region is the Regio Acht ...

for the interception of high-frequency radio traffic.

Burum

The interception station for satellite traffic is located in Burum ( Kollumerland c.a. municipality) in the province of

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

. It became fully operational in 2006. Construction of this station (officially named 'Satelliet Grondstation Burum') began in 2005 as a replacement for the former ground station in

Zoutkamp Zoutkamp is a village in the municipality Het Hogeland which is part of the province Groningen in the Netherlands. The village started as a sconce. During the Dutch Revolt, it was the site of the Battle of Zoutkamp. Later it became a fishing vil ...

in northern

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of t ...

. The telecom operator

Stratos Stratos may refer to: People As surname *Andreas Stratos (1905–1981), Greek politician and historian *Demetrio Stratos (1945–1979), Italian vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and music researcher * Nikolaos Stratos (1872–1922), Greek politici ...

(formerly Xantic), operates a satellite ground station (formally ''Satellite ground station 12'', but more commonly known by its nickname: (''The Big Ear'').) near Burum. The NSO interception station was created in the south-eastern corner of the existing Stratos satellite station property. Two large 18m diameter satellite dishes, nine smaller 11m diameter satellite dishes, and four so-called ''waffle-irons'' which are 4 meters in diameter were added for Sigint purposes.

Eibergen

A second JSCU intercept station is located on the military base Kamp Holterhoek in

in the

Achterhoek The Achterhoek (; Dutch Low Saxon: ''Achterhook'') is a cultural region in the Eastern Netherlands. Its name (meaning "rear-corner") is geographically appropriate because the area lies in the easternmost part of the province of Gelderland and th ...

region. Since 1967 the 898th signal battalion, stationed at

, has been intercepting radio traffic from the former

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

countries. In 1998 the battalion merged with the 1st Air Force signal battalion from Alphen, and part of the Naval Intelligence Service (the Technisch Informatie Verwerkingscentrum) from

Eemnes Eemnes () is a municipality and a village in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. The town of Eemnes Eemnes formerly consisted of two villages, Eemnes-Binnen ("Inner Eemnes") and Eemnes-Buiten ("Outer Eemnes"). These names referred to t ...

, and became the new ''Operationeel Verbindings-Inlichtingen Centrum'' (Operational Signal-Intelligence Centre, OVIC), at

References

External links