AIVD

The Dutch intelligence and security service.

Description based on the Crypto Museum's crypto glossary.¹

According to the Parliamentary Documentation Centre of Leiden University, the AIVD (Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst, General Intelligence and Security Service) traces its origins to the Bureau of National Security of 1945, which became the Central Security Service in 1946 and the Internal Security Service (BVD) in 1949. It operated under that name until 2002, when it was also given responsibility for intelligence gathering abroad.²

The AIVD reports to the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK), and its powers are laid down in the Intelligence and Security Services Act (Wiv). It investigates threats to national security at home and abroad: terrorism, cyber threats, political extremism, undesirable interference by foreign states and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; it works with, among others, the military intelligence service MIVD. It is overseen by an independent committee that may inspect all documents and publishes annual reports.²