MI6 Tops European Intelligence Ranking, Surpassing France’s DGSE
MI6 has been ranked as the most powerful foreign intelligence service in Europe, according to a peer review conducted by the French magazine L’Express. The British agency scored 251 points, ahead of France’s General Directorate for External Security (DGSE), which finished second with 169 points. The Netherlands, Ukraine, and Germany completed the top five, while Slovakia’s service was rated the worst.
The survey, styled like a Eurovision contest, asked 60 current and former spies from across Europe, as well as from the CIA and Israel’s Mossad, to rank their top five foreign intelligence agencies. Participants included 17 current or former agency chiefs, reflecting opinions from within the covert intelligence community.
Alexandra Saviana, deputy editor at L’Express specializing in defense and intelligence, said the result did not surprise her but the margin of victory did: “It is a huge point gap.”
No public reaction has come from MI6’s chief, Blaise Metreweli, but the agency reportedly feels quiet satisfaction at the unexpected verdict. A former Whitehall insider said, “Reputation matters a lot in the espionage game.”
Saviana attributed MI6’s success in the poll primarily to its record in recruiting and running high-level human sources over generations, emphasizing a focus on human intelligence in an era dominated by technology, intercepts, and satellite monitoring. “The British have the ability to play the long game, to bet on sources over 10 years, a bit like the Russians,” a former French DGSE spy told the magazine, adding that they “have a penchant for underhand tactics.”
The review also commended MI6 for its expertise in recruiting high-level informants and penetrating ruling elites in Russia, China, Iran, and Turkey. Britain was the first nation to warn Ukraine about the likelihood of the Russian invasion that began in February 2022, and has remained a staunch ally of Kyiv.
Ralph Goff, a former chief of operations for Europe and Eurasia at the CIA, told the magazine, “The British are in the lead on the Ukrainian file. We are right behind them.” Robert Gorelick, a former CIA station chief, added, “The United Kingdom has by far the strongest secret services in Europe. MI6 is extraordinary.”
Last year, Blaise Metreweli became the first woman to lead MI6, taking over from Sir Richard Moore. The DGSE, depicted in the French series The Bureau, was rated as one of the world’s best in counter-terrorism, renowned for clandestine operations to eliminate perceived threats to French security. Former French president François Hollande publicly acknowledged ordering at least 40 such operations.