Top 10 Intelligence agencies of the world
CIA – America
Formed : September 18, 1947
Agency executive : Leon Panetta, Director
Parent agency : Central Intelligence Group
CIA is the largest of the intelligence agencies and is responsible for gathering data from other
countries that could impact U.S. policy. It is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States
government responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior United States
policymakers. The CIA also engages in covert activities at the request of the President of the United
States of America. The CIA’s primary function is to collect information about foreign governments,
corporations, and individuals, and to advise public policymakers. The agency conducts covert
operations and paramilitary actions, and exerts foreign political influence through its Special
Activities Division. It has failed to control terrorism activities including 9/11, Not even a single top
level Al-Queda leader captured own its own in the past 9 years – ‘they missed 1 Million’ Soviet
troops marching into Afghanistan’. Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction, Have the found them yet? -
Number of defectors/ double agents numbers close to a thousand. On 50th anniversary of CIA,
President Clinton said ”By necessity, the American people will never know the full story of your
courage. Indeed, no one knows that what CIA really does”. Highly funded and technologically most
advanced Intelligence set-up in the world.
M1-6 – United Kingdom
Formed : 1909 as the Secret Service Bureau
Jurisdiction : Government of the United Kingdom
Headquarters : Vauxhall Cross, London
Agency executive : Sir John Sawers KCMG, Director General
Parent agency : Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The British have had a long public perception of an effective intelligence agency (due to the success
of the unrealistic, yet entertaining, James Bond movies). This perception matches reality. MI6, theBritish equivalent to the CIA, has had two big advantages in staying effective: The British Official
Secrets Act and D notices can often prevent leaks (which have been the bane of the CIA’s existence).
Some stories have emerged. In the Cold War, MI6 recruited Oleg Penkovsky, who played a key part
in the favorable resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Oleg Gordievski, who operated for a
decade before MI6 extracted him via Finland. The British were even aware of Norwood’s activities,
but made the decision not to tip their hand. MI6 also is rumored to have sabotaged the Tu-144
supersonic airliner program by altering documents and making sure they fell into the hands of the
KGB.
ISI – Pakistan
Formed : 1948
Jurisdiction : Government of Pakistan
Headquarters : Islamabad, Pakistan
Agency executive : Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, PA Director General
With the lengthiest track record of success, the best know Intelligence so far on the scale of records is
ISI. The Inter-Services Intelligence was created as an independent unit in 1948 in order to strengthen
the performance of Pakistan’s Military Intelligence during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. Its success
in achieving its goal without leading to a full scale invasion of Pakistan by the Soviets is a feat
unmatched by any other through out the intelligence world. KGB, The best of its time, failed to
counter ISI and protect Soviet interests in Central Asia. It has had 0 double agents or Defectors
through out its history, considering that in light of the whole war campaign it carried out from money
earned by selling drugs bought from the very people it was bleeding, The Soviets. It has protected its
Nuclear Weapons since formed and it has foiled Indian attempts to attain ultimate supremacy in the
South-Asian theatres through internal destabilization of India. It is above All laws in its host country
Pakistan ‘A State, with in a State’. Its policies are made ‘outside’ of all other institutions with the
exception of The Army. Its personnel have never been caught on camera. Its is believed to have the
highest number of agents worldwide, close to 10,000. The most striking thing is that its one of the
least funded Intelligence agency out of the top 10.
Mossad – Israel
Formed : December 13, 1949 as the Central Institute for Coordination
Agency executive : Meir Dagan, Director
Parent agency : Office of the Prime Minister
The Mossad is responsible for intelligence collection and covert operations including paramilitary
activities. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with Aman
(military intelligence) and Shin Bet (internal security), but its director reports directly to the Prime
Minister. The list of its successes is long. Israel’s intelligence agency is most famous for having takenout a number of PLO operatives in retaliation for the attack that killed eleven Israeli athletes at the
1972 Olympic games in Munich. However, this agency has other success to its name, including the
acquisition of a MiG-21 prior to the Six-Day war of 1967 and the theft of the plans for the Mirage 5
after the deal with France went sour. Mossad also assisted the United States in supporting Solidarity
in Poland during the 1980s.
MSS – China
Jurisdiction : People’s Republic of China
Headquarters : Beijing
Agency executive : Geng Huichang, Minister of State Security
Parent agency : State Council
Ministry of State Security is the security agency of the People’s Republic of China. It is also probably
the Chinese government’s largest and most active foreign intelligence agency, though it is also
involved in domestic security matters. Article 4 of the Criminal Procedure Law gives the MSS the
same authority to arrest or detain people as regular police for crimes involving state security with
identical supervision by the procuratorates and the courts. It is headquartered near the Ministry of
Public Security of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing. According to Liu Fuzhi, Secretary-
General of the Commission for Politics and Law under the Central Committee of the Communist Party
of China and Minister of Public Security, the mission of the MSS is to ensure “the security of the state
through effective measures against enemy agents, spies, and counter-revolutionary activities designed
to sabotage or overthrow China’s socialist system.” One of the primary missions of the MSS is
undoubtedly to gather foreign intelligence from targets in various countries overseas. Many MSS
agents are said to have operated in the Greater China region (Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) and to
have integrated themselves into the world’s numerous overseas Chinese communities. At one point,
nearly 120 agents who had been operating under non-official cover in the U.S., Canada, Western and
Northern Europe, and Japan as businessmen, bankers, scholars, and journalists were recalled to
China, a fact that demonstrates the broad geographical scope of MSS agent coverage.
BND – Germany
Formed : 1 April 1956
Agency executive : Gehlen Organization
Parent agency : Central Intelligence Group
The Bundesnachrichtendienst is the foreign intelligence agency of the German government, under the
control of the Chancellor’s Office. The BND acts as an early warning system to alert the German
government to threats to German interests from abroad. It depends heavily on wiretapping and
electronic surveillance of international communications. It collects and evaluates information on a
variety of areas such as international terrorism, WMD proliferation and illegal transfer of technology,organized crime, weapons and drug trafficking, money laundering, illegal migration and information
warfare. As Germany’s only overseas intelligence service, the BND gathers both military and civil
intelligence.
FSB – Russia
Formed : 3 April, 1995
Headquarters : Lubyanka Square
Preceding agency : KGB
The Federal Security Service of Russian Federation (FSD) is the main domestic security agency of
the Russian Federation and the main successor agency of the Soviet-era Cheka, NKVD and KGB. The
FSB is involved in counter-intelligence, internal and border security, counter-terrorism, and
surveillance. Its headquarters are on Lubyanka Square, downtown Moscow, the same location as the
former headquarters of the KGB. All law enforcement and intelligence agencies in Russia work under
the guidance of FSB, if needed. For example, the GRU, spetsnaz and Internal Troops detachments of
Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs work together with the FSB in Chechnya. The FSB is responsible
for internal security of the Russian state, counterespionage, and the fight against organized crime,
terrorism, and drug smuggling. The number of FSB personnel and its budget remain state secrets,
although the budget was reported to jump nearly 40% in 2006.
DGSE – France
Formed : April 2, 1982
Preceding agency : External Documentation and Counter-Espionage Service
Minister responsible : Hervé Morin, Minister of Defence
Agency executive : Erard Corbin de Mangoux, Director
Directorate General for External Security is France’s external intelligence agency. Operating under
the direction of the French ministry of defence, the agency works alongside the DCRI (the Central
Directorate of Interior Intelligence) in providing intelligence and national security, notably by
performing paramilitary and counterintelligence operations abroad. The General Directorate for
External Security (DGSE) of France has a rather short history compared to other intelligence agencies
in the region. It was officially founded in 1982 from a multitude of prior intelligence agencies in the
country. Its primary focus is to gather intelligence from foreign sources to assist in military and
strategic decisions for the country. The agency employs more than five thousand people.
RAW – India
Formed : 21 September 1968Headquarters : New Delhi, India
Agency executive : K. C. Verma, Secretary (R)
Parent agency : Prime Minister’s Office, GoI
Research and Analysis Wing is India’s external intelligence agency. It was formed in September
1968, after the newly independent Republic of India was faced with 2 consecutive wars, the Sino-
Indian war of 1962 and the India-Pakistani war of 1965, as it was evident that a credible intelligence
gathering setup was lacking. Its primary function is collection of external intelligence, counter-
terrorism and covert operations. In addition, it is responsible for obtaining and analyzing information
about foreign governments, corporations, and persons, in order to advise Indian foreign policymakers.
Until the creation of R&AW, the Intelligence Bureau handled both internal and external intelligence.
ASIS – Australia
Formed : 13 May 1952
Headquarters : Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Minister responsible : The Hon. Stephen Smith MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs
Agency executive : Nick Warner, Director-General
Australian Secret Intelligence Service is the Australian government intelligence agency responsible
for collecting foreign intelligence, undertaking counter-intelligence activities and cooperation with
other intelligence agencies overseas. For more than twenty years, the existence of the agency was a
secret even from its own government. Its primary responsibility is gathering intelligence from mainly
Asian and Pacific interests using agents stationed in a wide variety of areas. Its main purpose, as with
most agencies, is to protect the country’s political and economic interests while ensuring safety for
the people of Australia against national threats.
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