National security has never been under such pressure as it is now in the past eighty years. The Netherlands has been confronted with a multitude of threats in the past year, in an unpredictable and unstable world order. That’s what the intelligence service writes AIVD in the 2025 annual report which was published on Thursday afternoon.
The service is particularly concerned about young people who are increasingly willing to use violence to undermine democracy, both from the extreme right and from jihadist quarters. According to the service, there is a threat “with many faces” to which society must be resilient. As in previous years, the AIVD’s annual report mainly emphasizes jihadism and the extreme right, and ‘state threats’ from Russia and China, among others.
Islamic terror
According to the AIVD, the most important terrorist threat still comes from jihadism. Terror organization ISIS in particular still succeeds in encouraging supporters to commit attacks through propaganda. In 2025, the agency saw an increase in the number of ‘pro-ISIS’ young people under the age of 24. Jihadist ideas are widely available and easily accessible on social media platforms, the AIVD writes. Based on AIVD official reports, the police arrested eleven people in 2025 for a possible jihadist threat of violence. Six of them were under 24 at the time.
The AIVD also investigates the possible threat to national security from the terrorist organization Hamas. According to the agency, a political network has been active in Europe for years that obtains financial support for Hamas and engages in activism, lobbying and other influencing practices. There are ten people active in the Netherlands who can be connected to this European network, according to the AIVD.
Extreme right
The AIVD writes that the threat from the extreme right is twofold. On the one hand, there is the spread of right-wing extremist ideas in society. On the other hand, for some this legitimizes the use of violence.
The AIVD is referring, among other things, to the Geuzenbond. 24-year-old Thomas D., one of the leaders of this club, found two revolvers, crossbows, arrows with metal tips and 250 bullets in his home.
The AIVD writes that attempts at ‘entry politics’ are being made by the right-wing extremist movement. At the beginning of this year, members of the Geuzenbond appeared for the first time on candidate lists of Forum for Democracy (FVD) in the municipal elections. In Nijmegen and Rotterdam these candidates failed to obtain a municipal seat.
The AIVD writes that “a mix of European right-wing extremists and members of radical right-wing parties” met at a ‘remigration summit’ in Italy. Several Forum politicians were present there
There are also cross-links with Forum when it comes to making right-wing extremist ideas acceptable, without the party being mentioned in the annual report. The term ‘remigration’, which appears seventeen times in the FVD national election manifesto, is, according to the service, “in itself neutral”, but in the narrative of right-wing extremists “it represents the mass departure of people with a migration background from Europe”. The AIVD describes that “a mix of European right-wing extremists and members of radical right-wing parties” met last year at a ‘remigration summit’ in Italy. Several Forum politicians were present there.
In the context of right-wing extremism, the AIVD also pays attention to ‘nihilistic violent extremism’. Last year, several people were arrested who “moved to (incitement to) violence based on this nihilistic ideology.” This probably refers to the sadistic online Com network that NRC previously wrote about. “Individuals within this online network incite each other and others to violence, such as self-harm, suicide or deadly violence.”
Persons were also arrested following official messages from the AIVD as part of an investigation into ‘anti-institutional extremism’. According to the service, this mainly concerns people over 45 who have been radicalized later in life, partly during the corona pandemic.
The AIVD writes that the threat from the left-wing extremist movement is limited. The war in Gaza was the main reason for protest. “Although actions could be annoying, they often did not threaten the democratic legal order.”
When it comes specifically to ‘anti-fascist actions’, which according to the service often come from the anarchist movement, the service has more concerns. As in previous years, actions in 2025 included “causing destruction, disrupting meetings, intimidating individuals and mapping and publishing personal data online (doxing).” The AIVD writes that it regards such actions as ‘extremist’ because they undermine the functioning of the democratic legal order.
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Russia and China
According to the AIVD, Russian capabilities to carry out cyber attacks are increasing further. The service points to, among other things, the ‘Russian cyber actor’ Laundry Bear, who managed to steal work-related contact details of Dutch police officers last year.
The AIVD does not dare to attribute drones that have been spotted several times at Dutch airports to Russia. The service does point to more deployment of ‘low-level agents’, who are willing to carry out sabotage activities for a fee. Last year, a HAVO student was arrested for mapping WiFi networks for pro-Russian hackers in the embassy district of The Hague.
According to the agency, China is steadily building a world order that promotes its own interests
The AIVD also describes how Russia approaches European parliamentarians. In the Netherlands, according to previous research NRCIn any case, it is about Forum for Democracy. Member of Parliament Ralf Dekker appeared to be making video calls with parliamentarians from Putin’s United Russia party in March last year. At the end of 2024, party ideologue John Laughland of Forum appeared to have attended a conference in Russia, where he shook hands with former Russian president Medvedev.
As in previous years, the AIVD also warns about China. The threat from this country is “broadening and deepening.” According to the agency, China is steadily building a world order that promotes its own interests. The AIVD is concerned about economic espionage and China’s attempts to make Europe increasingly dependent on Chinese products. The AIVD calls it “worrying” that the service has difficulty gaining insight into the cyber threat from China. In 2024, the AIVD and the military intelligence service MIVD directly attributed a cyber attack on a Dutch defense network to the Chinese state for the first time.
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