Is ISI Really The Best Intelligence Agency In The World?

http://nationalpostnews.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/spies.gif

According to the National Post, Canada's conservative newspaper, it is.

That is just one of the interesting tidbits reported in this graphic titled, The State of The Global Spy Game (Download the PDF here).

Following Pakistan's ISI comes Mossad in the number 2 slot, MI 6 taking third and the CIA following up in fourth place.

In addition to the Top Ten list, most of the graphic outlines a series of assassinations, explosions, spying, cyber spying and "convenient accidents" that the Post ties to various intelligence organizations over the last ten years.

Finally, there are some charts which claim to be based on some of Richards Heuer's work regarding the demographics of spies; where they come from in government, how much education they have, etc.  The graphic provides no comparative data to see if any of the categories identified are larger or smaller than they are in the relevant population from which they are drawn so it is difficult to draw conclusions but intriguing nonetheless.

Given the nature of the article and difficulty associated with making these kinds of judgements, I am not surprised at the results but it is still an interesting question to ask:  Who has the world's best intel service? 

(Hat tip to Christophe Deschamps at Outils Froid and his must follow Twitter feed!)

Tweet