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Add as a favourite source on Google Add DutchNews as a favourite source on GoogleThe head of the Netherlands’ military intelligence service (MIVD) kept a public account on the fitness app Strava for years, allowing anyone to follow his cycling and running routes and work out where he lived, the Volkskrant reported on Friday.

Peter Reesink, a vice-admiral who has led the MIVD since February 2024, had logged activities that were visible to the public between 2018 and 2025. From the routes, the paper’s reporters could establish his home address, where he stored his camper, and when and where he went on holiday.

A public account breaches the defence ministry’s guidelines. Reesink made his account private immediately after the news got out, and has requested that it be deleted.

He told the paper he had not realised the account was still active, saying he had removed the app some time ago but forgot to delete the profile.

Own warning

The lapse comes at an awkward time; in the MIVD’s 2025 annual report, Reesink warned that Russia was becoming more aggressive and that large organisations were naïve about security. He told the Volkskrant at the time that people at his own briefings still asked whether they really needed to leave their phones outside.

It also comes days after the AIVD, the civilian intelligence service that works alongside the MIVD, was ranked third best in Europe in a survey of intelligence professionals.

The risks of these apps have been long established in the defence industry. In 2018, an investigation by De Correspondent and Bellingcat found that the fitness app Polar exposed the names and home addresses of thousands of military and intelligence staff worldwide, including a Dutch soldier deployed to Iraq.

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