(This entry is a summary of a talk given on July 11, 2010 by Nigel West on board Queen Mary 2, headed from New York to Southhampton, UK. Disclaimer: Any errors or omissions in the following are totally my own and should not be attributed to Nigel West.)
Directors of all intelligence services claim their agencies are tops. What are the pluses and minuses of these organizations? This analysis will probably not agree with common perception.
KGB
This now defunct organization, replaced by the Russian FSV (The Federal Security Service) was an enormous Soviet organization with about 850,000 people. Two-thirds of diplomats overseas were KGB. They were answerable to the ambassador, but also to the Rezidentura. Anyone who received instructions, regardless of whether they were in the KGB or not, would respond to the task. You did not decline to take a task from the KGB. As powerful an organization as it was, it was handicapped by some negatives. First of all, the KGB had no analytical process. It never had more than 12 analysts. The Politburo wanted to see the raw data, and it was often tailored reporting for the use of political officers. This was very dangerous since the Central Committee was not sophisticated in intelligence. The KGB was further handicapped by its series of non-stop defections, including several quite senior people.
CIA
The CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) was formed in 1947 as a successor to the OSS. It is not the only intelligence service, since the U.S. has approximately 50 organizations involved in intelligence. The CIA budget is concealed within the annual government budget. On the whole, the CIA has done a pretty good job, although past performance does not predict the future. It is an impressive agency, probably overly risk fearing. The Director of Central Intelligence is often far more of a politician than an intelligence professional, and on occasions may be pushed to tailor intelligence reports. It seems pretty evident that George Tenet was pushed to say what the war-hawks wanted to hear. Certainly Colin Powell seems to have been misled.
British
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) contains both MI5 and MI6, although they are not the only components of SIS. It is a rather small organization that “punches above its weight.” It was fraught with problems of penetration in the past and that engendered a strong distrust from the U.S.
French
The major French agency is DGSE - General Directorate for External Security Direction, or, Generale de la Securite Exterieure. The DSGE has no qualms about using anyone as an agent. Any citizen, journalist, etc may and do report to it. It includes agents in Francophone Africa. It is under the direct control of the French President. Its major role is to protect French interests. There have been few resignations over Greenpeace.
VCA
The Viet Cong Army had about the best agency in the world for a short time.
Cuban General Directorate of Intelligence DCI (Dirección de Inteligencia de Cuba
The Cubans are very impressive. They run good actions against the CIA. One woman (Anna Montes) was in the DIA for 14 years but was a Cuban agent. The "Queen of Cuba" was what some of Ana Montez’s fellow DIA analysts called her. Fidel Castro may have agreed. Montes was one of Cuba's best agents in America during much of her 16-year DIA career. [For a pretty good introduction to the Queen of Cuba, see https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol51no2/the-intelligence-officers-bookshelf.html#pgfId-174098]
Mossad
The Israeli Intelligence Agency, Mossad, is probably the worst intelligence agency in the world, with a reputation that does not match results. The major problem Israel has is that it has no political representation in major target countries. It is small but fully willing to take credit. Many of its operations were classic debacles.
Indian Intelligence Agency
The Cabinet Secretariat Research and Analysis Wing [RAW], India's most powerful intelligence agency, is India’s external intelligence agency. Indian intelligence was formed in 1885 and is the longest operating intelligence agency in the world. It has never been penetrated. It carries out ops against Canada and U.S. as well as its major concern, Pakistan. It has full political support and cover. RAW does not hire Muslims. It is currently the best intelligence agency in the world in terms of meeting is assigned responsibilities.
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