Military police to monitor Dutch sites in terrorism fight

The government will deploy more marechaussees (military police) because of the increasing terrorism threat, RTL Nieuws reports. This is according to a government letter that will appear today. According to RTL Nieuws, the marechaussess will be more frequently deployed to monitor buildings and objects, such as the parliament or Jewish institutions. Currently this monitoring is done largely by police officers. The deployment of marechaussees will reduce the workload of the police so that they have more time for the regular duties. The marechaussees are also more heavily armed, but that will vary according to situation. The exact number of marechaussees that will be deployed is kept a secret for security reasons. The government also announced an investigation into the the budgets of the intelligence and security services, RTL Nieuws reports. Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) currently has enough money, but more money will be available if it is needed. The investigation will look at the longer term and determine whether the AIVD and MIVD's (Military Intelligence and Security Service) budgets are sufficient to address the terrorist threat for the next few years. Last week Thursday the faction chairmen in the Tweede Kamer (lower house of parliament) presented a whole list of questions regarding the terrorism policy, including topics such as the police capacity and funding for the secret services. This letter from the government responds to these questions.