A secret service is a
government agency,
intelligence agency
An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives.
Means of informa ...
, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For instance, a country may establish a secret service which has some policing powers (such as
surveillance) but not others. The powers and duties of a government organization may be partly secret and partly not. The organization may be said to operate openly at home and secretly abroad, or vice versa.
Secret police
Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of ...
and intelligence agencies can usually be considered secret services.
Various states and regimes, at different times and places, established bodies that could be described as a secret service or secret police – for example, the ''
agentes in rebus
The ''agentes in rebus'' ( grc, ἀγγελιαφόροι, angeliaphóroi, messengers, or , ''magistrianoí'', ' magister's men'.) were the late Roman imperial courier service and general agents of the central government from the 4th to the 7th c ...
'' of the late
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
were sometimes defined as such. In modern times, the French police officer
Joseph Fouché is sometimes regarded as the primary pioneer within secret intelligence. Among other things, he is alleged to have prevented several murder attempts on
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
during his time as First Consul Bonaparte (1799–1804) through a large and tight net of various informers.
External links
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