Patriot missiles and antidrone defences will be deployed to protect the physical airspace above the Netherlands, while its security services guard against a potential barrage of cyberattacks, during the Nato summit in The Hague at the end of June.
Although German magazine Der Spiegel suggested recently that Donald Trump might refuse to attend unless alliance members agreed to increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP, the summit’s organisers say they are working on the basis that the US president will be there.
In a preview of the largest logistical operation ever mounted by the country during peacetime, the policing lead, Willem Woelders, said 27,000 police offers and 5,000 soldiers would be on duty over the two days – protecting 45 heads of state, their senior ministers and delegations.
Three key locations will be focus of the security: the World Forum convention centre, where the summit will be held; Huis ten Bosch, the palatial residence of King Willem-Alexander, where the leaders will have dinner; and Huis ter Duin hotel, where Mr Trump is scheduled to stay.
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There will be patrols over the city and along the coast by F35 fighter jets and Apache attack helicopters, Mr Woelders said, with an air exclusion zone operating along a 22km stretch of coast from the Hook of Holland to Noordwijk, where the president’s hotel is located.
The Huis ter Duin hotel is also where then US president Barack Obama stayed during his 2014 visit for a nuclear security summit hosted by former prime minister Mark Rutte, who became Nato secretary general last October.
Two runways at Schiphol will be closed during the summit on June 24th and 25th, and aircraft using the airport will be banned from flying within 16km of The Hague, the seat of the Dutch parliament.
Special forces teams will be on 24-hour standby.
Such was the scale of the deployment, Mr Woelders said, that neighbouring countries including Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain, would have substantial security input.
“We can never be completely open about security, but we are preparing for cyberattacks, for espionage in the form of targeted disinformation, as well as for social unrest”, said Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, the national counterterrorism co-ordinator.
In a bid to ensure the attendance of Mr Trump in June, Mr Rutte has suggested that Nato member states boost defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP and commit a further 1.5 per cent to broader security-related spending to meet the president’s 5 per cent demand.
That compromise could allow Mr Trump to declare a win in The Hague in June – while not committing European countries or Canada to a 5 per cent increase in core military spending that many see as politically and economically unsaleable domestically.
