IN THE CONCLUDING WEEKS of 2025, the Israel Intelligence Agency (ISA), which serves as its primary internal security and counterintelligence service, experienced two rapturous events that shook the organization to its very foundations. One was the appointment of Major General (retired) David Zini as the organization’s head. The other was the sudden retirement of the its deputy, known as ‘S’ (the first letter of his first name), who had been appointed to that position just two months earlier.

IN LATE NOVEMBER 2025 news broke that the selection for the new director of Austria’s domestic intelligence service, the //Direktion Staatsschutz und Nachrichtendienst// (Directorate State Protection and Intelligence Service – DSN) had been finalized: the new head of DSN would be Sylvia Mayer, a long time member of the Austrian intelligence community and the DSN’s deputy director for intelligence since October 2023. Mayer, therefore, is poised to become the first female spy chief in Austrian history.

A FORMER DEEP COVER Russian intelligence officer, whose cover was blown in 2010 when he was arrested in the United States, is spearheading efforts by the Kremlin to secure investments by India’s technology sector.

IN A RARE MEDIA interview, the chief of Colombia’s National Intelligence Directorate (DNI) has said that his agency’s collaboration with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other American spy organizations continues unabated.

FRENCH AUTHORITIES HAVE ARRESTED three individuals and placed a fourth person under supervision after scrutinizing the operations of a humanitarian organization suspected of being a front for Russian intelligence.

A BRITISH MAN WANTED by American authorities for spying for China, who disappeared along with his Chinese handler while under house arrest, may have managed to escape to China using a private jet, a report claims.

INTELLIGENCE SERVICES IN THE Netherlands have restricted intelligence-sharing with their United States counterparts due to political developments in Washington, according to two leading Dutch intelligence officials.

ASHRAF MARWAN, KNOWN AS "the Angel," is regarded as one of the greatest spies in Israeli intelligence history—the man on whom the entire Israeli government relied, and the informant who warned of the Yom Kippur War. Long-standing suspicions that he was actually a double agent have been strongly dismissed. However, a comprehensive investigation by two Israeli journalists, Ronen Bergman and Yuval Robovitz, published in the popular Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth under the title “//The Angel of Lies//”, presents a different picture. Based on thousands of secret documents not yet revealed and rare conversations with people involved in the operation, their report claims that “the Angel” was actually the spearhead of Egypt’s deception plan before and during the war—and that he succeeded beyond all expectations.

THE MOSSAD, ISRAEL’S PRIMARY covert action agency, had “some 100 agents” on the ground in Iran at the start of the Twelve-Day War, according to senior Israeli government officials who participated in a television documentary.

PROSECUTORS IN VIENNA HAVE charged a former intelligence officer with spying for Russia in a high-profile case that has had broad political ramifications in Austria and beyond.

IN A SERIES OF leaked recordings, the former head of Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate, Major General Aharon Haliva, has expressed strong views about Israel’s war in Gaza. General Haliva headed Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate (known as Aman) on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian militants took Israel by surprise in a combined arms attack, killing over 1,200 and kidnapping 250. Since resigning a year ago, Haliva has not made any public statements.

A DISAFFECTED SOLDIER, WHO tried to commit espionage against New Zealand for a foreign government, has become the first convicted spy in the Pacific Island nation’s history.

ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE IS USING Microsoft’s cloud service to store recordings and metadata from millions of intercepted telephone conversations placed by residents of Gaza and the West Bank, according to a new investigation.

A HACKER GROUP LINKED to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has compromised Russia’s domestic internet infrastructure and is using it to target foreign diplomats stationed in Russia.

HACKERS HAVE COMPROMISED A website used by the United States Intelligence Community (IC) to solicit sensitive contracts from the private sector, according to a new report. The target of the attack, and the methods used, appear to point with a high degree of certainty to a state actor.

It is a rare occasion to hear directly from a senior veteran of the Mossad. Oded Eilam (or Ailam), now 71, served in the Mossad for 24 years. In an interview with the German newspaper Bild, Eilam described the strategy that allowed the Israeli intelligence agency to successfully recruit and maintain an “extensive network” of spies inside Iran. … Continue reading →

A GROUP OF RESEARCHERS in Finland have managed to outline the structure and geographic footprint of a highly secretive Russian signals intelligence (SIGINT) unit by studying commemorative badges issued by the Russian government. The research group, known as CheckFirst, specializes in open-source (OSINT) investigative reporting and works to combat online disinformation. … Continue reading →

THE CONTROVERSIES THAT CONTINUE to be associated with the Austrian intelligence agencies today took place before December 2021, when the current Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (Direktion Staatsschutz und Nachrichtendienst, or DSN) was founded. Despite this, the DSN under the leadership of its director Omar Haijawi-Pirchner is still regarded as stable and predictable. The […]

THE GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL recently appointed a new acting chief at the Israel Security Agency (ISA, also known as Shabak). Identified only by their first initial, “S.”, this individual is one of the deputies of the outgoing ISA chief, Ronen Bar, and has reportedly served in the ISA for nearly 30 years. For the first time in ISA’s history, the organization is now being led by someone without a permanent appointment, marking a significant departure from usual practice.

THE MOSSAD, ISRAEL'S PRIMARY external intelligence agency, had set up forward-operating bases deep inside Iranian territory several years prior to last week’s attacks, which targeted Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure. In some cases, Mossad operatives, including commando forces, were operating inside the vicinity of the Iranian capital Tehran for months prior to June 13.

A LEAKED REPORT AUTHORED by Russia’s primary counterintelligence agency reveals deep concern in national security circles about the intensity of Chinese spying against Russian interests, according to The New York Times. The paper said last week that the leaked report, which was produced by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) between 2023 and 2024, offers “the most detailed behind-the-scenes view” of Russia’s counterintelligence concerns about China.

How did a major American media network come across a few sentences on Iran’s nuclear program, written in German, in the annual report of the domestic intelligence agency of Austria—a country that many Americans would mix up with a continent-sized country on the other side of the globe?

TWO RUSSIAN SPIES USED forged documents acquired in Brazil in order to live in Portugal for years and use it as a base from where to conduct espionage, according to an investigation by Portuguese counterintelligence.

EARLIER THIS WEEK THE High Court of Israel delivered its ruling regarding the dismissal of the head of the Israeli Security Agency (ISA, more widely known as the Shin Bet), Ronen Bar, who had already announced his intention to leave his position. The court ruled that the Bar’s dismissal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu violated the law and that Netanyahu had a conflict of interest due to the ISA’s ongoing investigation into the “Qatar-Gate” affair.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF UNITED States President Donald Trump has ordered American intelligence agencies to focus on Greenland, while also mulling a plan to establish a formal association with the island territory.