World War II 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
Bureau Nationale Veiligheid (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.
Louis Einthoven, head of the BNV, advised the government to model a security agency after the British
MI5, 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 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, headed by prime minister
Louis Beel. ==References==