Samenvatting

Some four years ago, the increased attention for civil military cooperation (CIMIC) led to a situation in which the Netherlands Chief of Defence Staff requested the Services to develop a CIMIC Policy, which would give him sufficient information about the CIMIC capacities needed for the Netherlands Armed Forces. The Army took the lead in the development of this joint CIMIC Policy. The objectives of this article are to clarify the outlines of the Netherlands Armed Forces CIMIC Policy and to make clear what kind of CIMIC organisation has been implemented in and for the Netherlands Armed Forces. The article will first focus on 1 (GE/NL) Corps and the Royal Netherlands Armys Operational Command and will then turn to the CIMIC Group North. After an introduction of the term CIMIC, including a definition and some terminology, the great importance of CIMIC in actual operations will be explained. Models will be used to illustrate the options for the CIMIC organisation in the Netherlands Armed Forces. Furthermore,an explanation will be given of how this CIMIC Policy can be made operational for theNetherlands staff units and for the international CIMIC Group North. Special attention will begiven to the recruitment of military and Functional Specialist personnel for the NetherlandsCIMIC elements. Finally, this article will describe some actual and future developments - a future the Netherlands is developing together with NATO, Germany and several other countries in the northern region of Europe, such as the Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway and Poland.