L’Express published on July 29 a ranking of European foreign intelligence services, where the British MI6 (Secret Intelligence Service) significantly dominates, scoring 251 points. The French DGSE (Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure) took second place with 169 points, and the Dutch services completed the top three with 97 points. Ukraine ranked fourth, ahead of the German BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst).
Compiling such a ranking, where the successes of intelligence services are by definition kept in the shadows, is a challenge, notes L’Express. To develop it, journalists Etienne Girard, Alexandra Saviana and Elsa Trujillo worked for three months, surveying about 60 experts from 25 countries. Among them were 18 current or former heads of intelligence services, numerous deputy directors and field agents.
The survey also involved six former employees of the CIA, three Canadians and Yossi Cohen, former director of the Israeli Mossad. The voting was conducted in the format of football awards “Ballon d’Or” or the song contest “Eurovision”. Each jury member had to determine their top 5 European foreign services based on their effectiveness and reliability, assigning five points for first place, four for second, and so on down to one point. Voting for the agency of one’s own country was prohibited.
L’Express’s ranking is not limited to European Union member states. It also includes the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway and Ukraine, which are considered “politically close to our democracies”. The publication’s goal was to provide the general public with information to assess the activities of institutions that in the continent’s major countries have annual budgets “from one to five billion euros”, but whose results are difficult to measure.
MI6 and DGSE: Leadership and key advantages
The British MI6, with 251 points, clearly dominates the ranking. L’Express names the recruitment of high-ranking sources as one of its main know-hows, a capability that is said to impress even American services. In particular, the networks that MI6 allegedly managed to establish in Russia, as well as in China, Turkey and Iran, are mentioned.
The French DGSE, with 169 points, takes second place. Among its main strengths, L’Express highlights the “Service Action” — one of the few structures capable of discreetly “neutralizing” a target abroad. The publication also emphasizes French expertise in the field of human intelligence. Five jury members placed DGSE above MI6, including Gina Bennett, who was a counter-terrorism analyst at the CIA for 34 years, describing the French as her most competent partners in this field. A former Canadian intelligence chief who retired in 2024 emphasizes their knowledge of Africa, stating: “The French are so good in Africa that even the British directed us to them when we had questions.”
Netherlands, Ukraine and Germany: Recognized and contested results
The Dutch services rank third with 97 points. Less known to the general public, they are said to have participated in several major operations over the past twenty years. In particular, in 2007, an agent of the AIVD (Dutch intelligence service) allegedly installed the Stuxnet computer virus in Iran, developed by the CIA and Mossad, which later disrupted the operation of part of the country’s nuclear facilities.
Ukraine ranks fourth with 77 points. The dossier notes numerous offensive operations attributed to Kyiv’s services, including the sabotage of the “Nord Stream” gas pipelines, targeted eliminations of Russian officials, or drone strikes that disabled about forty strategic aircraft. However, their place is not unanimously recognized: eleven out of nineteen jury members who were active in 2023 did not include them in their “top 5”.
The German BND received 62 points and closes the group of leaders. The agency has “its supporters and its critics”, according to L’Express, which names its main strength as political and economic analysis capabilities. However, the BND’s operational capabilities are assessed much more critically. According to data published by Bild in January 2026 and reprinted by L’Express, only 2% of terrorist warnings in Germany came from the BND, while 72% were provided by the CIA.
Ireland, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Croatia did not score any points. Slovakia received the title of “worst intelligence service in Europe”. To illustrate the failures in the work of its foreign agency, L’Express recalls that in August 2025, its director Pavol Gašpar caused an accident while driving his yellow sports car, wearing flip-flops.
Source: Libération
