{{Short description|none}} {{For-multi|the Marvel supervillain|Spymaster (character)|the Romanian television series|Spy/Master}}A '''spymaster''' is a leader of a group of spies or an intelligence agency.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-21 |title=Definition of SPYMASTER |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spymaster |access-date=2024-05-31 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref>
==List of spymasters== {{Expand list|date=June 2018}} {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" |- !Name !When !Allegiance !Agency/Organization/Service |- |Motojiro Akashi |1904 |{{JPN}} |Akashi Kikan |- |James Bond |1963 |{{flag|United Kingdom}} |Special Operations Executive |- |Lavrentiy Beria |1938 |{{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} |NKVD |- |M |1927–1940 |{{flag|United Kingdom}}|MI6 |- |Wilhelm Canaris |1935 |{{flag|Nazi Germany|1935}} |Abwehr |- |Thomas Cromwell |1533 |{{flag|Kingdom of England}} | |- |William J. Donovan |1941 |{{flag|United States|1912}} |Office of Strategic Services |- |Armand Jean du Plessis (Cardinal Richelieu) |1616 |{{flag|Kingdom of France}} | |- |Allen Dulles |1953 |{{flag|United States}} |Central Intelligence Agency |- |L.B. Moerdani |1952–1988 |{{flag|Indonesia}} |State Intelligence Agency |- |A.M. Hendropriyono |1945 |{{flag|Indonesia}} |State Intelligence Agency |- |Ali Murtopo |1945–1978 |{{flag|Indonesia}} |State Intelligence Agency |- |Yoga Sugama |1942–1989 |{{flag|Indonesia}} |State Intelligence Agency |- |Zhou Enlai |1928–1932 |{{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} Chinese Communist Party{{notetag|name=Chin|Years of service as a spymaster with the Chinese Communist Party predates the foundation of the People's Republic of China (1949)}} |Special Service section of the Central Committee<br>Urban Work Committee of the Central Committee |- |Rafaat Gebril |1973 |{{flag|Egypt}} |General Intelligence Directorate (Egypt) |- |Fadhil Barrak |1976–1989 |{{Flag|Ba'athist Iraq|name=Iraq}} |Iraqi Intelligence Service |- |Muhammad al-Khuli |1970–1987 |{{flag|Ba'athist Syria|name=Syria}} |Air Force Intelligence Directorate |- |Ali Mamlouk |2005–2024 |{{flag|Ba'athist Syria|name=Syria}} |National Security Bureau<br>General Intelligence Directorate (Syria) |- |Sándor Goldberger (alias J. Peters) |1930–1948 |{{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} |Communist Party USA |- |Sidney Gottlieb |1951–1973 |{{Flag|United States}} |Central Intelligence Agency |- |Hamid Gul |1987–1989 |{{flag|Pakistan}} |Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence |- |Javed Nasir |1992-1993 |{{flag|Pakistan}} |Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence |- |Faiz Hameed |2019 |{{flag|Pakistan}} |Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence |- |Isser Harel |1952–1963 |{{flag|Israel}} |Mossad |- |Ronnie Kasrils |1983–1989<br />2004–2008 |{{flag|South Africa}}<br /> |Umkhonto we Sizwe<br />Minister of Intelligence Services |- |David Kimche |1953–1980 |{{flag|Israel}} |Mossad |- |Ivone Kirkpatrick |1918–1918 |{{flag|United Kingdom}} |British Army, Belgian resistance |- |Maxwell Knight |1924–1930 |{{Flag|United Kingdom}} |MI5 |- |Chee Woh, Leong |1971–1984 |{{Flag|Malaysia}} |Special Branch |- |Dai Li |1928–1946 |{{flag|Republic of China}} |National Revolutionary Army |- |Colin Hercules Mackenzie |1940–1946 |{{Flag|United Kingdom}} |Special Operations Executive – Force 136 |- |Tengku Mahmood Mahyideen |1942–1945 |{{Flagicon image|Flag of the United Kingdom.svg}} British Malaya |Special Operations Executive – Force 136 (Malayan region) |- |Yuri Modin |1948–1951 |{{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} |NKVD |- |Hugh Montgomery |1953–1981 (CIA) 1981–1985 (INR) 1989–2014 (CIA) |{{flag|United States}} |Central Intelligence Agency Bureau of Intelligence and Research |- |Donald Nichols |1951 |{{flag|United States|1912}} |6004th Air Intelligence Service Squadron |- |Manuel Piñeiro |1961–1964 |{{flag|Cuba}} |Dirección de Inteligencia |- |Allan Pinkerton |1855–1861 |{{flag|United States|1861}} |Union Intelligence Service |- |Wang Puchen |1948–1949 |{{flag|Republic of China}} |Bureau of Investigation and Statistics |- |Pyotr Rachkovsky |1885–1902 |{{flag|Russian Empire|1858}} |Okhrana |- |Alfred Redl |1903–1913 |{{flag|Austria-Hungary}};<br>{{flag|Russian Empire}}{{notetag|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 {{circa|1900}}, and provided information to the Russian Empire until he was caught by Austro-Hungarian authorities in 1913.}} |Evidenzbureau |- |Mao Renfeng |1946–1956 |{{flag|Republic of China}} |Bureau of Investigation and Statistics |- |Semyon Semyonov |1937–1950 |{{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} |NKVD |- |Kang Sheng |1940s–1946 |{{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} Chinese Communist Party{{notetag|name=Chin|Years of service as a spymaster with the Chinese Communist Party predates the foundation of the People's Republic of China (1949)}} |Central Social Affairs Department |- |Hugh Sinclair |1919–1939 |{{flag|United Kingdom}} |Secret Intelligence Service |- |Mansfield Smith-Cumming |1909–1923 |{{flag|United Kingdom}} |Secret Intelligence Service |- |Richard Sorge |1920–1941 |{{flag|Soviet Union|1924}} |Main Intelligence Directorate |- |Sidney Souers |1946–1946 |{{flag|United States|1912}} |Director of the Central Intelligence Agency |- |Gustav Steinhauer |1911–1914 |{{flag|Germany|1866}} |Nachrichten-Abteilung |- |William Stephenson |1940–1946 |{{flag|Canada|1921}} |British Security Co-ordination |- |Emanuel Sueyro |{{circa|1620}}–1629 |{{flag|Spain|1506}} | |- |Benjamin Tallmadge |1778–1783 |{{flag|United States|1777}} |Culper Ring |- |John Thurloe |1653 |{{flag|Commonwealth of England}} | |- |Liam Tobin |1919 |{{flag|Irish Republic}} |Irish Republican Army |- |Francis Walsingham |1573–1590 |{{flag|Kingdom of England}} | |- |George Washington |1775 |{{flag|United States|1777}} |Continental Army |- |William Wickham |1795–1801 |{{flag|United Kingdom}} | |- |Markus Wolf |1951–1986 |{{flag|East Germany}} |Main Directorate for Reconnaissance |- |Shen Zui |1934–1949 |{{flag|Republic of China}} |Bureau of Investigation and Statistics |- |Kyrylo Budanov |2020–present |{{flag|Ukraine}} |Main Directorate of Intelligence (Ukraine) |- |Bhola Nath Mullik |1950–1964 |{{flag|India}} |Intelligence Bureau |- |R. N. Kao |1968–1977 |{{flag|India}} |Research and Analysis Wing |- |Vikram Sood |1966-2003 |{{flag|India}} |Research and Analysis Wing |- |Maloy Krishna Dhar |1968-1996 |{{flag|India}} |Intelligence Bureau |- |Ajit Doval |1968–2004<br>2014-Present |{{flag|India}} |Intelligence Bureau<br>National Security Advisor of India |- |Zvi Zamir |1948-1973 |{{flag|Israel}} |Mossad |- | R. N. Ravi |1974-2012<br>2018-2019 |{{flag|India}} |Intelligence Bureau<br>Deputy National Security Advisor of India |- |Rajinder Khanna |1978–2016<br>2018-2024<br>2024-Present |{{flag|India}} |Research and Analysis Wing<br>Deputy National Security Advisor of India<br>Additional National Security Advisor of India |- |Anil Dhasmana |1981–2019 |{{flag|India}} |Research and Analysis Wing |- |Samant Goel |1984-2023 |{{flag|India}} |Research and Analysis Wing |- |Ravi Sinha |1988–2025 |{{flag|India}} |Research and Analysis Wing |- | Tapan Deka |1988-Present |{{flag|India}} |Intelligence Bureau |- |Parag Jain |1989–Present |{{flag|India}} |Research and Analysis Wing |- |David Barnea |1996–present |{{flag|Israel}} |Mossad |- |Sergey Naryshkin |2016–present |{{flag|Russia}} |SVR |- |Mikhail Lyubimov |1959–1980 |{{flag|Soviet Union}} |KGB |}
==See also== * List of American spies * List of British spies * List of German spies * List of fictional spymasters
==Bibliography== *{{Cite book |first=Nitin|last=Gokhale |title=Gentleman Spymaster:R.N.Kao |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing India Pvt Ltd |ISBN=978-9354358913}}
==Notes== {{notefoot}}
== References == <references /> Spymasters * Spymasters Spymasters