The first permanent and centrally organized spy agency was created in renaissance Venice by a committee known as the Council of Ten. The Council of Ten was formed in 1310 to assist the Doge in matters of state security. Over time the committee’s responsibilities grew, and its networks of casual informants were replaced by a professional workforce that coordinated intelligence gathering efforts. It’s not clear when the transition to a permanent professional workforce took place, but there is evidence of a permanent intelligence gathering organization in Venice from the mid-15th century.
The Council of Ten actually comprised seventeen individuals – there were ten magistrates, six ducal councillors and the doge himself. Every month three members took turns in heading the Council of Ten’s operations during which time they were known as the Capi, or heads of the Ten. The organisation was headquartered in the Doge’s Palace on the Piazzetta San Marco in Venice and eventually grew to include departments for clandestine operations, science and technology, intelligence analysis and cryptology.
Initially the powers of the Council were analogous to a modern body such as the FBI or British MI5, with the stated purpose of protecting the state from internal dissent and corruption. Over time, however, the Council and their organisation became one of the most powerful institutions in the Venetian state. By the mid-fifteenth century the organisation and its leadership controlled Venice’s diplomatic and intelligence operations, as well as its military and state security.
The Council of Ten received a constant stream of information from Venice’s diplomats, who were active in the royal courts and councils of many European states, as well as widely travelled Venetian sailors and merchants. Diplomats were particularly important as they acted as case officers, using their budget for “secret expenses” to maintain local spy networks. The information gathered by these networks would be written up in long encrypted reports and sent back to the Doge’s Palace for analysis by the agents of the Council of Ten.
