This book investigates the historical origins and institutional development of counterterrorism strategies within the Netherlands during the late 1970s. Constant Willem Hijzen, a scholar specializing in intelligence and security history, utilizes primary source documentation from the Dutch police and the Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst (BVD) to reconstruct the state's response to political violence. The work argues that the 1979 assassination of Sir Richard Sykes served as a critical inflection point that forced the professionalization and integration of Dutch counterterrorism units.

Experts in intelligence history highlight this work as a rigorous case study on the institutionalization of security responses to political assassination. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and the author's meticulous reliance on declassified archival materials.