The Centrale Veiligheidsdienst (CVD) was a Dutch

security agency A security agency is a governmental organization that conducts intelligence activities for the internal security of a nation. They are the domestic cousins of foreign intelligence agencies, and typically conduct counterintelligence to thwart other ...

founded in 1946 as the successor to the

Bureau Nationale Veiligheid The Bureau Nationale Veiligheid (BNV) was a Dutch security agency that was founded in 1945 and succeeded in 1946 by the Centrale Veiligheidsdienst, which in turn was transformed into the Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst (BVD) in 1949. Foundation ...

. It was transformed into the Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst in 1949.

Foundation

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

had made it clear to the Dutch government how important a good intelligence service was, and wished to install a more general and permanent institution than the

(BNV), whose primary mission had been to roll up remnants of German intelligence services, monitor former collaborators with the German regime, and track separatists in

Dutch Indonesia The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

Louis Einthoven Louis Einthoven (30 March 1896 – 29 May 1979) was a Dutch lawyer and the co-founder of Nederlandsche Unie. After the war, Einthoven was put in charge of Bureau Nationale Veiligheid, which was renamed Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst. He was bo ...

, head of the BNV, advised the government to model a security agency after the British

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Go ...

, meaning it would be responsible for gathering intelligence but have not the power to enforce laws, in order to prevent the agency from being a secret police like the German

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

.Paul H.A.M. Abels, Spionkoppen, Inlichtingenleiderschap in elf portretten, uitg. Prometheus, Amsterdam 2020, p. 26-28. The CVD was founded with a (secret) Royal Decree on 9 April 1946, and Einthoven was its first director. It was run under the

Ministry of General Affairs , type = Department , logo = Ministerie van Algemene Zaken Logo.png , logo_width = 250x250px , logo_caption = Logo of the Ministry of General Affairs , image = Ministerie Algeme ...

, headed by prime minister

Louis Beel Louis Joseph Maria Beel (12 April 1902 – 11 February 1977) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Roman Catholic State Party (RKSP) and later co-founder of the Catholic People's Party (KVP) now the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and ju ...

References

Sources

* , ''Terug naar de bron. Vrijheid, onvrijheid en de dienst in de jaren veertig en vijftig'', Uitg. Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst, Zoetermeer 2021.

External links

Voorlopers Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst: Bureau Nationale Veiligheid & Centrale Veiligheidsdienst
{{DEFAULTSORT:Centrale Veiligheidsdienst 1946 establishments in the Netherlands Government agencies established in 1946 Dutch intelligence agencies Domestic intelligence agencies