Defence minister Hans Hillen told MPs on Wednesday he had not been deliberately misinformed about problems at a navy base in Den Helder.This is what defence minister Hillen told MP's today after one of the major Dutch newspaper had published about the problems.
The Volkskrant reported on Wednesday that the most senior civil servant in the defence ministry was aware of serious misconduct but had not informed the minister.
On Monday, Hillen told MPs he was not aware of the problems at CAMS Force Vision, and they had come as a complete shock.
But confidential correspondence in the hands of the paper shows secretary general Ton Annink wrote to a man who blew the whistle on goings-on at the base in September 2010 and assured him steps were being taken.
The secretary general is not to blame for this, Hillen said. ‘I have complete trust in him.’
Defence ministry officials gave defence minister Hans Hillen wrong information when they assured him in February that problems at the Den Helder naval equipment unit had been solved, the Volkskrant reports on Tuesday.(CAMS Force Vision is the Dutch navy's Centre for Automation of Mission Critical Systems.)
This whole revelation came after some incidents in another department, in the wake of which the minister told Parliament that he didn't know of any incidents elsewhere.
And only after the newspaper article was published did the minister report two members of the leadership at CAMS to the police.
A whistle blower originally signalled the problems 1.5 years ago, after which there was ani nvestigation and the whistle blower was found to be correct on almost all acounts. The 9 soldiers who testified on behalve of the whistle blower were assured anonimity, yet everyone at CAMS knows who they are.
Meanwhile the MoD wants to get rid of these 9 people and their functions have been called 'redundant' ahead of a reorganisation.
This is a serious lack of leadership from everyone involved. The minister, who has only been in charge for a couple of months, is on the verge of never getting any control during the remaining period of his 3.5 year term.
The military leadership did way too little about this and apparently did nothing to protect the 9 people who had the courage to do something about it.
The civilian leadership did not inform the minister.
And when the Director of the Defence Material Organisation (of which CAMS is a part) publishes on the intranet of the Dutch armed forces that the Director of CAMS Force Vision, supported by the leaders of the Defence Material Organisation, is working hard to make the situation normal again, you know the problems won't be resolved. Come on... these are the same people that have decided the 9 who testified are now redundant and who could not protect their anonimity.
Is there anyone who trusts these people to solve this problem?
If no one is hold accountable, then this will never be resolved and probably only get worse. The minister has got to get involved personally and make sure heads will roll, if he ever wants to get this under control and get a grip on the organisation for which he is responsible.
Oh...anyone who believes the minister will actually do something about this is delusional. Nothing will change, although I would love to be proven wrong.
The debate between the minister and the MP's will continue later today.
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