Schoof's cabinet knew the risks and didn't act. And Schoof himself was Director-General of AIVD (the national intelligence service) before becoming PM — so of all recent PMs, he's the one who should've read this file correctly. He didn't.

The Tweede Kamer (parliament) actually passed a motion against the contract extension. The cabinet overrode it. Then Jetten's cabinet did the same thing again in May 2026.

It took one person with the right knowledge in the right seat to stop it — Staatssecretaris Aerdts, who literally has a PhD on oversight of the Dutch intelligence services.

But here's the part that should make you angry: Van Oordt flagged this exact risk first. He got fired for it. The analysis that cost him his job is the same analysis Aerdts used to block the acquisition. He was just right too early, and from the wrong chair.

And he's still being punished. Still in legal proceedings, still without the apology or reinstatement he's owed.

So apparently the Dutch government's policy is: do your job right as a CPO, get fired and dragged through court for it — and wait for someone with a minister's title to be proven right on your behalf.

There are 2 competing factions in the EU and EU countries. The fascist bootlickers who are in on the grift and would happily sell us all down the river for a few table scraps of American surveillance capitalism and those who want a prosperous, thriving and sovereign EU. The traitors need to be dealt with.

It's complicated. These things are very uneven between countries, and the Netherlands so far do seem like the ones most enjoying their US dependence. This is the most egregious case, but there have been plenty of others recently where the establishment is strongly resisting digital autonomy (and let's not even talk about Mark Rutte going from "Teflon" to "daddy's boy").

Other countries are doing better. It's interesting that the most "digital" in the continental EU, is also the one most deeply in bed with big tech (whereas German fax machines are already 100% sovereign)