PARIS, July 31, 2026 – French news magazine L’Express has published a ranking of what it describes as Europe’s most powerful intelligence agencies, placing the United Kingdom’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) at the top of the list.
According to the publication, MI6 received 251 points, significantly ahead of France’s Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE), which ranked second with 169 points. The Netherlands’ General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) secured third place with 97 points.
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and Defence Intelligence (HUR) jointly ranked fourth with 77 points, while Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) completed the top five with 62 points.
The remainder of the top ten includes intelligence services from Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Poland, and Denmark, reflecting the growing importance of intelligence capabilities across Northern and Eastern Europe amid evolving security challenges.
According to L’Express, the ranking was compiled by a panel of 60 international intelligence professionals. Each participant selected and ranked what they considered the five most effective foreign intelligence services, awarding five points to the top agency, four points to the second, and so on down to one point for the fifth.
The assessment was based primarily on the perceived effectiveness, operational capability, and reliability of each intelligence service.
Beyond the top ten, the ranking also includes intelligence agencies from Romania, Spain, Finland, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Portugal, Austria, and Latvia.
While the survey reflects the opinions of intelligence professionals rather than an official institutional assessment, it offers insight into how European intelligence services are viewed by experts in the field at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions and increasing emphasis on counterintelligence, cybersecurity, and hybrid threats.
