| Country: | Belgium |
| Details of Formation: | Since 1947, the US was directing the construction of a clandestine Gladio network in Italy, and then in other European countries. In 1950 the Belgian Gladio was set up with the help of the CIA and British Agents. |
| Details of Termination: | In the 1990s the existence of Gladio networks in Europe was discovered. Belgium carried out parliamentary investigations (Wikipedia). It became, alongside Switzerland, the latest European nation to scrap the Gladio network. |
| Purpose: | Gladio’s purpose was to prepare for, and implement, a guerilla war and armed resistance in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion and conquest (Wikipedia). |
| Organisation: | Gladio was coordinated by NATO and run by the military secret service in close cooperation with the CIA and British MI6 (Wikipedia). Gladio was ultimately answerable to the NATO-CIA command and could initiate anti-communist operations by themselves, although they needed sanction and funds from the existing “official” Gladio column. In Belgium, the only elected representatives who knew about its existence were the prime ministers and defence ministers. |
| Weapons and Training: | Gladio members trained together with US Green Berets and British Special Air Service (SAS). They were equipped with underground arms-caches. (Wikipedia) |
| Size: | -- |
| Reason for Membership: | -- |
| Treatment of Civilians: | -- |
| Other Information: | Operation Gladio is the name for a clandestine NATO “stay-behind” operation in Italy during the Cold War. “Operation Gladio” is also used as an informal name for similar units in other European nations. In Belgium, the secret unit was code-named SDRA8 (Wikipedia). The Allied Cooperation committee (representatives of all countries and Gladio networks) met in Brussels. Belgian Gladio was linked to terrorist attacks in the 1980s – but not specific information is available. The network of groups may have some semi-official status within the intelligence community. But this status is not recognized. The groups were hidden even from some domestic governments and prime ministers. They were ultimately answerable to NATO-CIA rather than domestic governments in event of attack by Warsaw Pact. |
| References: | Wikipedia. “Operation Gladio”. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Gladio&oldid=744766573 |