A spymaster is a leader of a group of spies or an intelligence agency.[1]

List of spymasters

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Name When Allegiance Agency/Organization/Service
Motojiro Akashi 1904   Japan Akashi Kikan
Vera Atkins 1944   United Kingdom Special Operations Executive
Lavrentiy Beria 1938   Soviet Union NKVD
Arturo Bocchini 1927–1940   Fascist Italy OVRA
Wilhelm Canaris 1935   Nazi Germany Abwehr
Thomas Cromwell 1533   Kingdom of England
William J. Donovan 1941   United States Office of Strategic Services
Armand Jean du Plessis (Cardinal Richelieu) 1616   Kingdom of France
Allen Dulles 1953   United States Central Intelligence Agency
Zhou Enlai 1928–1932   Chinese Communist Party[note 1] Special Service section of the Central Committee
Urban Work Committee of the Central Committee
Rafaat Gebril 1973   Egypt General Intelligence Directorate (Egypt)
Ali Mamlouk 2005–present   Syria National Security Bureau
General Intelligence Directorate (Syria)
Sándor Goldberger (alias J. Peters) 1930–1948   Soviet Union Communist Party USA
Sidney Gottlieb 1951–1973   United States Central Intelligence Agency
Hamid Gul 1987–1989   Pakistan Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence
Faiz Hameed 2019   Pakistan Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence
Isser Harel 1952–1963   Israel Mossad
R. N. Kao 1968–1977   India Research and Analysis Wing
Ronnie Kasrils 1983–1989
2004–2008
  South Africa
Umkhonto we Sizwe
Minister of Intelligence Services
David Kimche 1953–1980   Israel Mossad
Ivone Kirkpatrick 1918–1918   United Kingdom British Army, Belgian resistance
Maxwell Knight 1924–1930   United Kingdom MI5
Dai Li 1928–1946   Republic of China National Revolutionary Army
Colin Hercules Mackenzie 1940–1946   United Kingdom Special Operations ExecutiveForce 136
Yuri Modin 1948–1951   Soviet Union NKVD
Hugh Montgomery 1953–1981 (CIA)

1981–1985 (INR)
1989–2014 (CIA)

  United States Central Intelligence Agency

Bureau of Intelligence and Research

Bhola Nath Mullik 1950–1964   India Intelligence Bureau
Donald Nichols 1951   United States 6004th Air Intelligence Service Squadron
Manuel Piñeiro 1961–1964   Cuba Dirección de Inteligencia
Allan Pinkerton 1855–1861   United States Union Intelligence Service
Wang Puchen 1948–1949   Republic of China Bureau of Investigation and Statistics
Pyotr Rachkovsky 1885–1902   Russian Empire Okhrana
Alfred Redl 1903–1913   Austria-Hungary;
  Russian Empire[note 2]
Evidenzbureau
Mao Renfeng 1946–1956   Republic of China Bureau of Investigation and Statistics
Semyon Semyonov 1937–1950   Soviet Union NKVD
Kang Sheng 1940s–1946   Chinese Communist Party[note 1] Central Social Affairs Department
Hugh Sinclair 1919–1939   United Kingdom Secret Intelligence Service
Mansfield Smith-Cumming 1909–1923   United Kingdom Secret Intelligence Service
Richard Sorge 1920–1941   Soviet Union Main Intelligence Directorate
Sidney Souers 1946–1946   United States Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Gustav Steinhauer 1911–1914   Germany Nachrichten-Abteilung
William Stephenson 1940–1946   Canada British Security Co-ordination
Emanuel Sueyro c. 1620–1629   Spain
Benjamin Tallmadge 1778–1783   United States Culper Ring
John Thurloe 1653   Commonwealth of England
Liam Tobin 1919   Irish Republic Irish Republican Army
Francis Walsingham 1573–1590   Kingdom of England
George Washington 1775   United States Continental Army
William Wickham 1795–1801   United Kingdom
Markus Wolf 1951–1986   East Germany Main Directorate for Reconnaissance
Shen Zui 1934–1949   Republic of China Bureau of Investigation and Statistics
Kyrylo Budanov 2020-Present   Ukraine Main Directorate of Intelligence (Ukraine)

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b Years of service as a spymaster with the Chinese Communist Party predates the foundation of the People's Republic of China (1949)
  2. ^ Redl was appointed as the head of counterintelligence at the Evidenzbureau, the Austro-Hungarian military intelligence organization in 1907. However, Redl was already compromised by Russian agents c. 1900, and provided information to the Russian Empire until he was caught by Austro-Hungarian authorities in 1913.

References

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  1. ^ "Definition of SPYMASTER". www.merriam-webster.com. 2024-04-21. Retrieved 2024-05-31.