An intelligence agency is a government organization tasked with the collection and analysis of a range of political, economic and military information. They are also often deployed in a counter-terrorism and counter-espionage role and can even conduct political influence operations, sabotage and kidnappings or assassinations.

Everyone knows the British foreign intelligence service, MI6, from the James Bond films, whilst the Soviet KGB, the American CIA and the German Stasi are best known from the Cold War. Edward Snowden’s revelations have made the American NSA world-famous.

Germany maintains the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) as its domestic intelligence agency; the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) as its foreign intelligence agency and the Military Counter-Intelligence Service (MAD) as its military intelligence service. Each federal state also has its own Office for the Protection of the Constitution.