The AIVD warns the Netherlands faces its gravest national security threat since World War Two, citing Russia and China as the main external dangers amid a more unpredictable global order. Director Simone Smit said pressures are coming from multiple directions and persisting longer than in recent decades. The agency flagged rising Russian cyber aggression and a possible prolonged confrontation with the West, and accused China of "illegal" efforts to acquire advanced technology—heightening economic-security risks in 2025. It also warned of growing domestic threats from jihadist and far-right groups.
Netherlands Faces Greatest Security Threat Since WWII, AIVD Warns
Members of Police take position on top of a building in The Hague, Netherlands June 25, 2025. REUTERS/Toby Melville
ZOETERMEER, The Netherlands, April 23 (Reuters) - Dutch intelligence agency AIVD warned on Thursday that the Netherlands is confronting its most serious national security threat since the end of World War Two, driven primarily by Russia and China amid a far more unpredictable global order.
Simone Smit, director of the AIVD, told reporters at the agency's annual report launch that in the 80 years since the service was founded it has never observed a threat level comparable to the current situation. "We see an unstable and unpredictable world order, after decades where stability and predictability were the foundation of prosperity and peace," she said.
"In the 80 years of our existence, we have not seen a threat level like the current one, where national security has been put under pressure from so many sides at once, for such a long time."
The AIVD singled out both Russia and China as the principal external threats to the Netherlands, a founding member of NATO and the European Union. The agency said Russia has become more aggressive toward Western countries, including the Netherlands, notably through an increase in cyber attacks. "Russia is preparing for a long confrontation with the West," the report said, adding that a military conflict between Russia and Western states can no longer be regarded as inconceivable.
Moscow denies any intention to attack NATO members and says the so-called "collective West" threatens its security, particularly through financial and military support for Ukraine.
The AIVD also described China's continued efforts to acquire advanced technological expertise—what it called "illegal" activities—as part of a broader push by Beijing to reshape the global order to better serve its interests. The agency has long identified China as the greatest threat to Dutch economic security and said that risk had intensified in 2025. China rejects accusations that it acts illegally to pursue economic goals or that it poses a threat to Western nations.
Domestically, the AIVD highlighted the growing risks posed by jihadist and far-right groups. The agency warned that both movements have gained troubling levels of appeal among some young people, creating an additional and persistent pressure on national security.
The report underscores a more complex and sustained threat environment for the Netherlands — combining state-level strategic competition, malign cyber activity, and radicalisation at home — and calls for sustained vigilance across security, economic and societal fronts.
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