Which countries boast the top 15 intelligence agencies with biggest personnel size? In a world as technologically advanced as ours, wars are fought behind borders instead of at them, making it necessary for countries to employ agencies and secret operatives to provide information regarding other countries, whether they’re allies or enemies.
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While agencies were always popular, especially during World War 2 and the Cold War, they are almost a necessity now for the reasons mentioned earlier. It comes as no surprise that the most powerful countries in the world also have the largest spy agencies, as evidenced in top 15 intelligence agencies with the biggest budgets in the world.
However, data is very hard to come by regarding the extent of such spy agencies, including their personnel number and their total budget. Hence, it is a better and more accurate idea to rank countries according to the number of personnel employed in total by all their spy agencies as a more accurate figures can be provided in that case. Hence, we have ranked the top 15 intelligence agencies with the biggest personnel size according to the total operatives employed by their countries, using a thesis to determine the number of personnel employed by each country.
15. Egypt
Estimated number of personnel employed by the country: 17,000
The General Intelligence Directorate is Egypt’s foremost intelligence agency, and was formed in 1961.
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14. Singapore
Estimated number of personnel employed by the country: 17,000
The premier Singaporean intelligence agency is the Security and Intelligence Division. It has been hard to learn facts regarding the agency due to its secrecy and the fact that it is mostly independent from the Ministry of Defence.
13. United Kingdom
Estimated number of personnel employed by the country: 17,500
The main UK agency is their Security Service and the Defence Intelligence, which employ most of the nearly 18,000 UK operatives.
12. Luxembourg
Estimated number of personnel employed by the country: 18,000
Luxembourg’s intelligence agencies have been the cause of many a scandal, proving how hard it is to control nearly 20,000 operatives.
11. Slovenia
Estimated number of personnel employed by the country: 18,000
Slovenia has three intelligence agencies which have employ 18,000 people, the chief among them being the Slovenian Intelligence and Security Agency.
10. Cuba
Estimated number of personnel employed by the country: 19,000
Cuba meanwhile has just two main agencies which employ around 19,000 people, with its premier agency, the Directorate of Intelligence, employing the most operatives.
9. Iran
Estimated number of personnel employed by the country: 19,500
Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security is its premier intelligence agency and has always been shrouded in secrecy, often due to the controversial practices employed by it.
8. India
Estimated number of personnel employed by the country: 19,800
India’s main intelligence agency is its Research and Analysis Wing, but it also has several other agencies, which combined employ nearly 20,000 people.
7. Switzerland
Estimated number of personnel employed by the country: 20,500
You might be surprised to find what is popularly known as the world’s most neutral country one of 15 , but Switzerland has a few intelligence agencies of its own, which makes it agencies 7th among the 15 agencies with the biggest personnel size.
6. Portugal
Estimated number of personnel employed by the country: 21,000
Portugal is another surprise inclusion on this list as it does not seem to be much in need of intelligence agencies but actually employs over 21,000 personnel.
5. Syria
Estimated number of personnel employed by the country: 21,500
A country embroiled in civil war for several years, it is easy to see why the Assad regime has over 20,000 intelligence agents, whose main task is to gain intelligence on the rebel groups, allowing the army to flush them out and then defeat them.
4. Romania
Estimated number of personnel employed by the country: 41,000
Romania has half a dozen intelligence agencies under its government, carrying out secret missions which are extremely classified. These agencies provide employment to over 40,000 people.
3. China
Estimated number of personnel employed by the country: 84,000
The Ministry of State Security is China’s main intelligence agency, and has played a pivotal part in China’s rise as one of the most powerful countries in the world.
2. United States of America
Estimated number of personnel employed by the country: 142,000
Unsurprisingly, the United States of America has over 140,000 people employed in its famous and infamous agencies such as the National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency, whose wide berth of activities require a large number of personnel.
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1. Russia
Estimated number of personnel employed by the country: 170,000
Even more infamous than the US’s intelligence agencies is the Russian KGB, whose successor, the Federal Security Services, is one of Russia’s primary intelligence agencies, along with the equally infamous Main Intelligence Directorate, popularly known as GRU. These agencies are the primary reason why Russia’s agencies top the 15 agencies with the biggest personnel size.
