Britain’s MI6 has emerged as the most powerful intelligence agency in Europe, comfortably outranking France’s DGSE, the Dutch services and Ukraine’s rapidly expanding espionage apparatus, according to a new survey by French magazine L’Express.
Greece failed to register any points in the rankings, yet the investigation found that Athens remains a valued and sought after partner whenever Turkey is the subject at hand.
L’Express spent three months examining the hidden world of European espionage for the survey, speaking to around 100 people working in the field. The aim was to capture what the magazine called the “invisible war” being waged by Europe’s intelligence services and to highlight the role of intelligence gathering as the “missing link” in understanding major geopolitical upheavals.
Sixty intelligence professionals from 25 countries took part in the vote, including 17 serving or former heads of secret services, alongside representatives from the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israel’s Mossad. Participants were asked to draw up their own top five, based on personal experience of working with Europe’s agencies, in a format the magazine likened to the Ballon d’Or football award or the Eurovision Song Contest.
MI6 at the top
MI6 took first place with 251 points, confirming the reputation that continues to follow Britain’s intelligence services. “The United Kingdom has by far the strongest intelligence services in Europe. MI6 is exceptional,” said Robert Grenier, a former CIA station chief.
The British agency’s greatest strength is considered to be its ability to recruit high level sources and invest in them over many years. A former DGSE officer said the British “have the ability to play the long game, to back sources for ten years, rather like the Russians do. And they have a taste for underhand tactics.”
European services credit MI6 with networks reaching deep into the power structures of Russia, China, Turkey and Iran.
Among the most notable cases is Alireza Akbari, Iran’s former deputy defence minister, who is reported to have worked with the British until 2019. In 2024, Beijing also accused MI6 of recruiting a Chinese couple employed in the civil service, with the approach to one of them said to have begun nine years earlier, while they were studying in London.
The agency’s reputation was further bolstered by its early warning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As early as autumn 2021, MI6, working alongside the CIA, was briefing partners on Moscow’s preparations. It has since taken a leading role in supporting Kyiv. “The British are out in front on the Ukrainian issue. We are following right behind them,” said Ralph Goff, a former head of CIA operations for Europe and Eurasia.
France’s DGSE takes second place
In second place, with 169 points, is France’s General Directorate for External Security (DGSE), the only agency in continental Europe considered to have near global reach. Its strength lies in combining technical data collection with human sources and operational capability.
The DGSE’s Action Division has a particular reputation as one of the few units in the world considered capable of discreetly “neutralising” a target abroad. Only five participants placed the French service above MI6, a gap that illustrates how professionals in the field view the two agencies.
“In the field of human intelligence, the DGSE struck me as the most capable partner,” said Gina Bennett, who spent 34 years as a counterterrorism analyst at the CIA. The French service is regarded as particularly strong on counterterrorism, on Lebanon, on weapons non-proliferation and above all on Africa.
Its deep knowledge of the African continent helped restore some of the standing it lost in 2022, when France failed to recognise in time that Russia was preparing to invade Ukraine. In June 2023, through its African networks, the DGSE learned that Yevgeny Prigozhin was preparing a mutiny against Vladimir Putin and passed the information on to the CIA.
A standout showing from the Dutch
Third place, with 97 points, went to the Dutch services, the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) and the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD). Roughly seven in ten participants included them in their top five, describing their performance as the strongest relative to the resources available to them.
The Dutch have taken part in some of the most significant covert operations of the past two decades. In 2007, an AIVD agent is reported to have installed the Stuxnet virus, developed by Mossad and the CIA, which caused serious damage to Iran’s nuclear programme. In 2015, Dutch hackers infiltrated the Russian group Cozy Bear and alerted the United States, while in 2016 and 2017 the Dutch services hosted and trained Ukrainian agents in cooperation with the CIA.
Since the early 2020s, the AIVD has also hosted a European counterterrorism intelligence centre, to which every European Union member state, along with the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland, seconds specialists.
Ukraine in fourth
Ukraine’s fourth place finish, with 77 points, ranks among the survey’s biggest surprises. Kyiv’s services have impressed observers with their innovation, ingenuity and willingness to take on high levels of operational risk.
Operations attributed to Ukrainian intelligence include the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, drone strikes that have put dozens of Russian aircraft out of action, and targeted assassinations of senior officials in Moscow. One European intelligence chief remarked that Ukraine had proven it could “go full Mossad,” a reference to the aggressive covert operations carried out by Israel’s Mossad.
Trust in the Ukrainian services is not absolute, however. Some European officials believe Russian sources may still be embedded within them. “We tell the Ukrainians a lot, but not everything, because you never know where it might end up. Even in Moscow,” said a former head of a French intelligence service.
German analysts fall short on operations
Rounding out the top five is Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND), with 62 points. The agency is recognised chiefly for its methodical approach, its analytical capability and its skill at spotting subtle political and economic shifts.
When the conversation turns to purely espionage related operations, however, assessments become far harsher. A former head of Swiss intelligence compared BND staff to “think tank researchers,” while a former deputy director of a US intelligence agency said the Germans had for years avoided operations abroad.
One telling statistic: only two per cent of terrorism related warnings issued in Germany originate from the BND itself, while 72 per cent come from the CIA.
Greece doesn’t score points, but valuable on Turkey
Greece is among the countries that received no points at all from survey participants. That does not, however, mean the Greek services are seen as irrelevant by their European partners. On the contrary, L’Express notes that Greece remains in demand whenever attention turns to Turkey, thanks to its geographical proximity, long experience and specialist knowledge of developments in its neighbour.
Ireland and Luxembourg fall into the same scoreless group, both considered useful for financial investigations. Cyprus raises concern because of its ties to Russia, yet remains an essential crossroads where Russian spies, Mossad agents and Beijing’s envoys converge.
At the other end of the scale, Hungary is viewed as a weak link in the flow of European intelligence, owing to the way Prime Minister Viktor Orban is said to use the state intelligence apparatus. Concerns have also been raised about Bulgaria, whose political elites are described as “permeable to Russian influence.”
The worst performing European service, according to near unanimous agreement among participants, is considered to be that of Slovakia. Its reputation is tied to allegations of nepotism, incompetence and close Russian connections, factors that have left it at the bottom of Europe’s intelligence hierarchy.
The top ten
- United Kingdom, MI6: 251 points
- France, DGSE: 169 points
- Netherlands, AIVD/MIVD: 97 points
- Ukraine: 77 points
- Germany, BND: 62 points
- Sweden: 40 points
- Norway: 34 points
- Estonia: 27 points
- Poland: 22 points
- Denmark: 16 points
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