Executive Summary

The Dutch government’s ongoing ‘Think Ahead’ civil preparedness campaign* is part of a broader recent trend across Europe to put populaces on notice, explicitly citing cyberattacks, sabotage, infrastructure disruption, and even war. Likely driving this trend is recently increased Russian aggression since 2024, including espionage operations, covert influence campaigns, drone overflights, and GNSS disruptions of NATO airspace. France, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway are among the nations that have taken action and we cannot rule out the possibility that additional nations will join in with similar initiatives in early 2026.

*The Think Ahead campaign, launched in Dutch as Denk vooruit, is intended to help citizens prepare for emergencies and prepare a 72 hour survival kit in case of a cyberattack or major blackout that could leave the country with no access to water or electricity.