The Ministry of Defence (; MinDef) is the Dutch ministry responsible for the armed forces of the Netherlands and

veterans' affairs Veterans' affairs is an area of public policy concerned with relations between a government and its communities of military veterans. Some jurisdictions have a designated government agency or department, a Department of Veterans' Affairs, Minist ...

. The ministry was created in 1813 as the Ministry of War and in 1928 was combined with the Ministry of the Navy. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in the ministries were separated again, in this period the Minister of War and Minister of the Navy were often the same person and the state secretary for the Navy was responsible for daily affairs of the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy (, ) is the Navy, maritime service branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It traces its history to 8 January 1488, making it the List of navies, third-oldest navy in the world. During the 17th and early 18th centurie ...

. In 1959 the ministries were merged once again. The ministry is headed by the Minister of Defence, currently Ruben Brekelmans, assisted by the Chief of the Defence, Onno Eichelsheim.

Responsibilities

The ministry is responsible for: * protecting the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (which includes the Netherlands,

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

Sint Maarten Sint Maarten () is a Countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean region of North America. With a population of 58,477 as of June 2023 on an area of , it encompasses ...

and

Aruba Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...

) and her allies; * protecting and enhancing the international legal system and stability; * supporting civil authorities in maintaining order, in case of emergencies and in giving

humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material and Humanitarian Logistics, logistic assistance, usually in the short-term, to people in need. Among the people in need are the homelessness, homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. Th ...

, both national and international.

Organization

The ministry consists of the Minister ( Ruben Brekelmans) and the State Secretary of Defence ( Gijs Tuinman), the so-called Central Staff, the

Netherlands Armed Forces The Netherlands Armed Forces () are the military, military forces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (mainland Netherlands in Europe and islands of the Dutch Caribbean). The armed forces consist of four service branches: the Royal Netherlands Nav ...

and two supporting organisations. The Central Staff of the ministry is led by the Secretary-General, the highest civil servant. The most important elements of the Central Staff are: * several directorates for policy, personnel, materiel and finance * the Defence Staff * the Defence Audit Service * the Security Authority * the Military Intelligence and Security Service * the Military Aviation Authority The highest military official is the

Chief of Defence A chief of defence (or head of defence) is the highest ranked Officer (armed forces), commissioned officer of a nation's armed forces. The acronym CHOD is in common use within NATO and the European Union as a generic term for the highest national ...

(). He is a four-star general or admiral and controls the branches of the armed forces, which are organized in three operational commands: * the

Command; * the

Royal Netherlands Army The Royal Netherlands Army (, KL) is the Ground warfare, land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised making the Dutch standing a ...

Command; * the

Royal Netherlands Air Force The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF; , "Royal Air Force") is the military aviation branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It was created in 1953 to succeed its predecessor, the ''Luchtvaartafdeling'' () of the Dutch Army, which was founded ...

Command. The fourth branch of service, the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, is a

gendarmerie A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...

force that falls directly under the Secretary-General. The armed forces are supported by two civil organizations that reside under the Ministry of Defence: * a Support Command (); and * the Command Materiel and IT (). The ministry employs around 70,000 civil and military personnel.

References

External links

*
Ministerie van Defensie
(Rijksoverheid) * (in English
Ministry of Defence
(Government) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry of Defence (Netherlands)

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Defence Military of the Netherlands Ministries established in 1813

Responsibilities

Organization

See also

References

External links