Not to be confused with Big Brother Is Watching or The Index Is Watching You, this is an index of real life espionage and internal security agencies:
- ABIN — The Brazilian Intelligence agency. The agency is quite young (Founded in 1999) because they are the successors of the secret police of the military regime, the SNI (Serviço Nacional de Informações, National Information Service) that existed from 1964 until 1990. The new name was created to distance themselves from the old image of an agency that focused on political repression and to emphasize the new focus on intelligence and data gathering.
- Abwehr — German Military intelligence during World War II. For the Nazi Party's intelligence see The Gestapo.
- ASIS — Australian intelligence
- ÁVH/ÁVO — "Államvédelmi Hatóság/Osztag" (Authority/Division of State Defense). The Secret Police of Communist Hungary during the Rákosi Era. "Dismantled" (actually renamed and took a lot of chill pills) after the Revolution of 1956
- BND — The German Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst). Possibly one of the least cool espionage agencies in the world, as they aren't known to have ever done anything noteworthy (that is, apart from losing classified construction papers for their new Berlin HQ building
and selling novelty underwear).
- BOSS — The Bureau of State Security (Buro vir Staatsveiligheid), the name of the South African Apartheid Government's intelligence service from 1966 to 1970.
- CCB — The Civil Cooperation Bureau. Another Apartheid South African intelligence agency, this one specialised in disinformation, psyops and assassinations.
- Cheka (VChK) — see Moscow Centre. Its Red October era predecessor.
- CNI — Centro Nacional de Inteligencia (National Intelligence Center), the Spanish official intelligence agency and successor of the CESID.
- CSEC — Communications Security Establishment of Canada. Canadian signals intelligence agency.
- C-SIS — Canadian Security Intelligence Service: the civilian intelligence gathering agency, similar to the British SIS or American CIA. Its headquarters are located at 1941 Ogilvie Road.
- DINA — Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (National Intelligence Directorate), The Chilean intelligence service formed in the wake of Augusto Pinochet's 1973 coup de'tat. The DINA became an infamous fixture in Pinochet's regime, participating in censorship, state terror, torture, and assassinations at home and abroad. In 1977, The DINA was replaced by the CNI (Central Nacional de Informaciones), which served similar functions until it's ultimate dissolution after democracy returned to Chile in 1990.
- DGSE (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure, "Directorate-General for External Security") and DST — The French equivalent of the CIA and MI5 (but also for counterespionage inside the French territory), respectively. The latter become part of the DCRI in 2008. The former was once known as the Deuxième Bureau ("Second Office").
- DS (not to be confused with a console) — Държавна Сигурност (Dărzhavna Sigurnost, "State Security", the Bulgarian version of the KGB from when the country was Commie Land, infamous for orchestrating the "umbrella murder" of exiled dissident Georgi Markov. Unlike its counterparts in other Eastern European countries after the Hole In Flag revolutions, its former agents were never banned from occupying positions in the high echelons of society. Currently succeeded by DANS (almost the same name, State Agency for National Security which, while less openly repressive, became infamous for almost getting a corrupt large-scale media owner as its head).
- Emniyet — Turkish counterpart to the FBI in World War II.
- FSB — Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti (Federal Security Service) - modern Russian counter-intelligence, counter-terrorist and Secret Police service.
- G2 — The Irish national intelligence service. Known internally as the Irish Defence Forces Directorate of Intelligence.
- GCHQ — The UK's agency for Signals intelligence, currently indicted with running what seems to be one of the world's biggest eavesdropping operations ever.
- The Gestapo — Nazi Germany's very own Secret Police.
- GRU — The Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye(Main Intelligence Directorate) is the other Soviet/Russian Military Intelligence which outlasted the KGB.
- 国家安全部 — Guójiā Ānquán Bù, or Guóānbù (Ministry of State Security). The internal security and foreign intelligence service of the People's Republic of China.
- Indian Political Service — Intelligence service of The Raj in the days of The British Empire, and still around in modern India as its internal intelligence apparatus under the name Intelligence Bureau.
- ISI — The Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan. Pakistan's strategic intelligence service.
- Moscow Centre — Otherwise known as the KGB (Комитет Государственной Безопасности), Komityet Gosudarstvyennoy Bezopasnosti (Committee for State Security). There were a number of "affiliated" (read: independent In Name Only) agencies in Soviet member states, typically called "KGB of [Country]"
- MGB — see NKVD, Moscow Centre.
- MI-5 — Officially, the Security Service. Deals with internal security and counter-intelligence in the UK.
- MI-6 — Officially, the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). The external intelligence agency for the United Kingdom.
- MİT - Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı (National Intelligence Organisation) - The present-day Turkish counterpart of the NSA or CIA. During more turbulent times, it also dabbled in being the Secret Police and occasionally used paramilitaries of various affiliations to get things done.
- Mossad — Israeli foreign intelligence agency.
- NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) — the predecessor to KGB, Soviet Stalinist-era State Sec.
- OGPU (All-State Political Directorate) — same as previous, only ten or so years earlier.
- Okhrana — Tsarist era Russian Secret Police. Oknrana is a foreign name; the proper name was, depending on the exact historical period, "3rd Division of His Imperial Majesty's Chancellery" or "Guarding Division" (Okhrannoye Otdelenie). The word "Okhrana" is a contraction of the latter, however in Russia proper, the most known contraction was the much less flattering "Okhranka" ("bad guarding" or "stupid guarding", formed with a colloquial and disrespectful suffix).
- OSS — American Precursor to the CIA during World War II.
- PET — Politiets Efterretningstjeneste ("Danish Security and Intelligence Service") - Denmark's internal security agency, part of their police, but reporting directly to their Minister of Justice
- RAW — The Research and Analysis Wing is present-day India's external intelligence agency. Subject to a lot of conspiracies spreading around in Pakistan, which blames them for anything that may go wrong there.
- Shabak — Israeli domestic intelligence agency.
- SBU — Sluzhba Bezpeky Ukrayiny (Security Service of Ukraine) — Ukraine's successor to the KGB, serving as their counterintelligence and counter-terrorism agency. Rose to public prominence in 2014 after the Euromaidan protests and Russian intervention in Ukraine.
- SOE — Special Operations Executive: British liaison to La Résistance during World War II.
- Säkerhetspolisen (Säpo) — "Security Police", Sweden's internal intelligence agency.
- The Stasi — Common name for the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (Ministry for State Security), the Secret Police of East Germany.
- SVR — Sluzhba Vneshnei Razvedki (Foreign Intelligence Service) - modern Russian intelligence service. Another contender for the title of "the least cool espionage agency", though it started to get a lot of badass press coverage lately because of "Russian intervention" scandals.
- SSIS — State Security Investigations Service, usually just "State Security", the internal intelligence agency (read: secret police) of Mubarak-era Egypt. Famous for having Stasi-level infiltration/mass surveillance in a country five times the size of East Germany. Officially dissolved after the Revolution of 2011, but not really.
- SUPO — Suojelupoliisi (Protection Police), the Finnish intelligence service.
- SZRU — Sluzhba zovnishn’oyi rozvidky Ukrayiny (Foreign Intelligence Service), Ukraine's foreign intelligence service, spun off from the SBU in 2004.
- UDBA — Uprava Državne Bezbednosti - Yugoslavia's intelligence service. Stayed alive past the break-up of Yugoslavia, operating in Serbia and Montenegro until 2002.
United States Intelligence Community: While most nations have 1 up to 3 agencies (Usually civilian intelligence, signals intelligence and counterintelligence), the United States have 16 agencies, they are all organized under the Intelligence Community, which attempts to coordinate them and prevent Interservice Rivalry
- 25th Air Force — Also known as Air Force Intelligence, the numbered air force responsible for the intelligence for the USAF. Responsible for ISTAR (Intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance)
- CIA — Central Intelligence Agency. American civilian and foreign intelligence.
- CGI — Coast Guard Intelligence. Part of the Coast Guard responsible for organizing intelligence for their operations. Also has the Coast Guard Counterintelligence Service, responsible for preventing espionage and terrorism.
- DIA — Defense Intelligence Agency. American military intelligence and primary source of information for The Pentagon.
- INSCOM — Army Intelligence and Security Command.
- INR — Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Part of the Department of State responsible for organizing intelligence coming from diplomatic cables and helps to define the US diplomatic strategy.
- FBI — Federal Bureau of Investigation. US Federal Government police and counterintelligence.
- MCIA — Marine Corps Intelligence Activity. Specialized in providing intelligence for expeditionary forces and about littoral areas.
- NRO — National Reconnaissance Office. American agency responsible for designing, operating, and maintaining Spy Satellites.
- NGA — National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. American agency providing maps and targeting documents (GEOINT) for strikes against enemy targets. It also creates strategic briefing documents, atlases, and battle damage assessments using imagery intelligence (IMINT). Possibly the winner of "least cool espionage agency".
- NSA — U.S. National Security Agency. Signals intelligence - specializing in cryptography, code-breaking and digital information analysis. Also responsible for developing standards to secure government computers.
- OICI — Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. Part of the Department of Energy. Specialized in nuclear weapons, nuclear proliferation, nuclear energy, radioactive waste and energy security. Monitors foreign nuclear stockpiles. Does not perform actual counterintelligence.
- ONI — Office of Naval Intelligence. Intelligence division of the US Navy and the oldest in the United States; founded in 1882. Particularly strong technical analysis of foreign military equipment and units.
- ONSI — Office of National Security Intelligence. The DEA's intelligence division, providing information in leads to seizures and arrests, and provides information for the Department of Justice about drug trade.
- TGA — Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Part of the Department of Treasury responsible for tracking the money used in illicit activities by terrorists (groups and state-sponsored), money launderers, drug cartels, and other national security threats.
