New Dutch leader bans phones in Cabinet meetings to dial back espionage threat

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The new Dutch prime minister has banned cell phones and other mobile devices from the weekly meetings of his Cabinet in a move aimed at dialing back the risk of digital eavesdropping by spies.

“The threat of espionage is timeless. Electronic devices, a telephone, iPad, are all little microphones and countries are interested in decision-making also in the Netherlands and you want to prevent that. It's a very simple measure — all the phones in a safe,” Dick Schoof, a former head of the national intelligence agency, told reporters Friday.

Phones were not banned under Schoof's predecessor, Mark Rutte, who left Dutch politics after a general election in November that was won by the radical right Party for Freedom led by Geert Wilders.

Schoof, whose technocratic government took office in July, said he was taking a different approach based on his former job in the intelligence community.