Foreign Media Scores the Intelligence Agencies of European Countries

According to a report by Reference News on August 9, the British newspaper The Times reported on August 4 that the French news magazine Le Point spent three months engaging with 60 intelligence professionals from 25 countries to evaluate and score their Western allies' intelligence counterparts.

The peer ratings show that the vast majority of respondents ranked the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) first, with MI6 regarded as the most powerful secret intelligence agency in Europe. The French Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE) ranked second due to its global operational reach and capabilities, including assassination. The Slovak intelligence agency was rated as the worst-performing intelligence department in Europe.

Robert Gorelik, a former senior intelligence officer at the CIA, stated, “The UK has the most powerful intelligence agency in Europe to date. MI6's capabilities are outstanding.” A former director of the DGSE remarked, “The British excel at long-term strategic games, managing resources over a decade, and they are keen on employing various dirty tactics.”

Olivier Mas, a former senior official at the DGSE, believes that the UK's long colonial history, particularly the 19th-century confrontation known as the "Great Game" between Britain and Russia for influence in Central Asia, has shaped its intelligence capabilities.

In this ranking, MI6 received a score of 251. The DGSE scored 169, with 5 out of the 60 respondents ranking it first.

A senior executive from the Polish intelligence agency said, “It (the DGSE) is the only intelligence agency on the European continent with near-global operational capabilities.”

The operational branch of the DGSE, which is part of the military system, has garnered attention for conducting secret operations to "eliminate" individuals deemed threats to French security. Before leaving office in 2017, former French President François Hollande publicly discussed his orders for such assassinations.

It is reported that Hollande ordered at least 40 operations in the Middle East and Africa to eliminate "high-value" jihadist targets.

A former Canadian intelligence chief told reporters, “France performs better in Africa. When we encounter problems, even the British will have us turn to France for help.”

The much smaller Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service ranked third with a score of 97. Jorge Silva Carvalho, a former director of the Portuguese Defense Strategic Intelligence Agency, commented, “It has the highest return on investment! Its operational record is nearly impeccable, earning full trust from all parties.”

The Ukrainian intelligence agency ranked fourth, with its innovative capabilities and strategies, as well as its willingness to take risks, being comparable to Israel's Mossad since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022.

In the intelligence community, the German Federal Intelligence Service has long been mocked as a bloated bureaucratic agency, ranking fifth this time. The agency's global issue analysis capabilities are recognized.

A former director of the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service compared the staff of the German Federal Intelligence Service to “think tank researchers,” while a former deputy director of a U.S. intelligence agency stated that until recently, Germany had been trying to avoid conducting overseas intelligence operations.

Ranking sixth to tenth are the intelligence agencies of Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Poland, and Denmark. (Translated by Lin Chaohui)