Geopolitical risks
The Belgian National Risk Assessment identifies four major geopolitical risks for Belgium:
- Hybrid threats: a combination of techniques or actions by which an individual, a group or another country attempts to negatively impact our country or its institutions without being detected. Belgium mainly focuses on the following techniques: violence, disinformation or cyber attacks on Scientific and Economic Potential. Often these techniques (and others) are combined.
- Espionage by another country: espionage is 'the search for or provision of information not in the public domain and the maintenance of secret relationships which may prepare or facilitate such acts'. It mainly concerns political, economic, technological, military or scientific information about essential infrastructure in Belgium. Attempts are made to get hold of this information through human espionage, cyber espionage or technological means in order to influence certain decisions or to obtain scientific or economic power.
- Crude oil or fuel shortage.
- Social consequences of (transit) migration.
BEFORE
Stay informed. This way you can recognise any malicious actions and report them to the authorities. To do so, you can visit the following sites:
DURING
- Protect yourself when you go abroad. Check out the tips from VSSE and the FPS Foreign Affairs.
- Know that false information is spread deliberately on the Internet.
- Always check official government channels or recognised media outlets to make sure the information is reliable.
- Be careful what you share online. Not sure about the author of a message? Do not share it.
- Protect your computer and personal data. To do so, check out the tips on the 'cybercrime' page.
AFTER
- There are no specific recommendations.
Impact and probability
In 2018, the National Crisis Center coordinated a large-scale risk assessment for Belgium for the period 2018-2023. Several experts assessed various risks based on their probability and their impact on people, society, the environment and the economy.
For the risk of 'hybrid threats', the analysis is:
- Impact: low impact
- Probability: very likely
For the risk of 'espionage in Belgian vital infrastructure by another State', the analysis is:
- Impact: low impact
- Probability: very likely
For the risk of 'crude oil/fuel shortage', the analysis is:
- Impact: high impact
- Probability: very unlikely
For the risk of 'social consequences of (transit) migration', the analysis is:
- Impact: very low impact
- Probability: very likely
Read more about this analysis and what these charts mean here.
What does the government do?
The Belgian intelligence and security services deal with geopolitical risks, each within their own domain. In addition, various interdepartmental collaborations exist to make our society more resilient to these risks and to actively combat them.
An example of such interdepartmental cooperation is a platform on hybrid threats, where experts can exchange information and work together to study the problem in all its complexity and tackle it in an efficient and coordinated way.