Gijs Tuinman

Gijs Pepijn Tuinman (born 15 November 1979) is a Dutch military officer and politician of the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB), who has served as State Secretary for Defence in the Schoof cabinet since July 2024. He was a member of the House of Representatives in the preceding seven months. Tuinman is one of the only three living knights (4th class) of the Military Order of William, the oldest and highest order of chivalry of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Biography
Gijs Tuinman was born in 1979 in Heerlen, Limburg, where he attended the Bernardinuscollege from 1992 to 1998. In 1998, he went to the Royal Military Academy in Breda. In 2001, he became a platoon commander in the Korps Commandotroepen to be. By 2009, he had been on at least five deployments to Afghanistan, several to Africa and other missions. On 7 October 2009, for a mission in 2006, he was awarded the Bronze Lion, the second highest military decoration awarded by Queen Beatrix.

From 2009 to 2012, he worked as a special operations policy advisor at the Ministry of Defence in The Hague. After this, he became a 'civilian' consultant at Deloitte. He returned to military duty in 2013.

Military Order of William
On 4 December 2014 at the Binnenhof in The Hague, Tuinman was knighted by King Willem-Alexander, receiving the fourth class knighthood of the Military Order of William. The King referred to Tuinman and Epke Zonderland in his Christmas speech in 2014.

Politics
He was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2023 as the third candidate of the Farmer–Citizen Movement, and he became the BBB's spokesperson for foreign affairs, trade, defense, and kingdom relations. Tuinman told in February 2024 – during the Russian invasion of Ukraine – on BNR Nieuwsradio that he believed the Netherlands should more actively support NATO's defense of Central and Eastern Europe against Russia. He suggested Dutch soldiers should be permanently stationed in Lithuania or Poland.

After the PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB formed the Schoof cabinet, Tuinman was sworn in as State State Secretary for Defence on 2 July 2024. His portfolio includes personnel, materiel, real estate, defence industry, IT and innovation, physical and social security, and resilience.

Decorations

 * Knight 4th class of the Military Order of William (RMWO)
 * Bronze Lion
 * Commemorative Medal Peacekeeping Operations
 * Four Day Marches Cross
 * NATO Medal