Securing a nation is neither easy nor clean. If the police and army are the frontal barriers of defence, then intelligence agencies are the invisible ones, always working in the shadows to ensure state security. An intelligence agency works in tandem with a nation’s apparatus, working jointly with its military and political machinery.

Unlike armed forces and security units, intelligence agencies follow a certain protocol and work in high levels of secrecy, outside public life. There are many agencies operating around the world, and in reality they are way more different than the jazzed up and filmy depictions we see in serials and movies.

An intelligence agency is responsible for feeding vital information to law enforcement agencies and armed forces about possible threats to national security be they internal or external. They collect, analyse, and exploit secretive information that is not available to common people to their own advantage. Working behind and even within enemy lines, these agencies are tasked with some of the most dirty business that comes with protecting a nation’s security interests.

They are assigned with the task of gathering intelligence, conducting various forms of surveillance activities, playing a vital role in recommending the government specifically when it comes to national security matters, spreading misinformation, sabotage, espionage and even carrying out assassinations. However, not all of these intelligence agencies are the same, for every organization follows a different doctrine and mode of operating.




Top 10 intelligence agencies in the world




1. Mossad (Israel)
2. Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (Russia)
3. Research & Analysis Wing (India)
4. Central Intelligence Agency (United States of America)
5. Ministry of State Security (China)
6. Inter Services Intelligence (Pakistan)
7. Secret Intelligence Service/ MI6 (United Kingdom)
8. Directorate General for External Security (France)
9. Australian Secret Intelligence Service (Australia)
10. The Bundesnachrichtendienst/ BND/ Federal Intelligence Service (Germany)