The Directorate of Special Units (DSU) is the Belgian Federal Police's Counter-Terrorism unit. The DSU is deployed in cases of terrorism, kidnappings, hostage taking and other forms of serious crime. In major terrorist operations outside the country, the DSU would be replaced by the Belgian Army Special Forces Group. The Federal Police's website says the DSU has a total of 430 personnel. As the unit's commander, Eric Liévin, said, "a criminal dealing with the SIE, has a better chance of surviving than another; they try to use a minimal level of violence/force, and yet try to attain a maximum level of efficiency."[1]. The DSU consists of an intervention unit, observation unit and a technical unit all stationed in the Police caserne in Etterbeek, also the home of the Police Cavalry units and part of the general reserve. The unit believed to employ about 50 officers, all of which have a background as a sharpshooter. Overall control of the DSU lies with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but depending on circumstances the unit can be deployed under operational control of the Ministry of Justice. Prior to 1994 the unit was commanded by the Ministry of Defense. Weapons in use include, among others, Glock 17 9mm pistols, Heckler & Koch MP5 9mm submachineguns, FN P90 5.7mm submachineguns, Remington 870 12 gauge shotguns, Accuracy International Arctic Warfare and Sako TRG-21 7.62mm sniper rifles, Heckler & Koch HK69 40mm grenade launcher and FN 303 less lethal launcher. Two more specialised units also exist, one team has six trained police dogs for detecting the presence of explosive materials or ammunition, the other one is the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team, which was created in 1978, when a gas truck exploded in a Spanish campsite, killing 38 Belgians. Four decentralized DSU teams exist in Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi and Liege; the so-called POSA (Protection, Observation, Support, Apprehension) units.
History
The original DSU was created in the aftermath of the Munich massacre and was called Diane, and the DSU is still commonly referred as groep Diane. In 1974 the name was changed from Diane to SIE (also outside of Belgium, Dutch: Speciaal Interventie Eskadron) or ESI (French: Esquadron Spécial d'Intervention, also known as Groupe Interforces Antiterroriste). In 2001, the DSU was created.
