The Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), established in 1948,208 is the country’s largest intelligence agency and has often exerted a strong influence on government policy.209 Sources described it as a military210/military-run211 organisation, with no specific law or formalised oversight process regulating its activities.212 Externally, the ISI engages in the collection of foreign intelligence and counter-intelligence activities,213 while in the domestic realm, it is known as an actor of repression in Balochistan and against individuals voicing dissent against the country’s military leaders.214 The ISI has internal and external wings215 and a number of specialised sections,216 with sources from late 2025 reportedly indicating that the organisation was shifting away from human-intelligence centred approaches towards data-driven monitoring.217
The ISI is headed by a Director-General who holds the rank of three-star army general.218 Since September 2024, this position has been held by Muhammad Asim Malik, who was additionally appointed to the post of National Security Adviser in April 2025.219 Both the ISI’s directorate board220 and its core staff are composed of military officers. Meanwhile, the organisation also employs civil servants for administrative and analytical roles, as well as other civilians operating as informants and surveillance personnel.221 While no precise data was available of the overall size of the ISI,222 the New Delhi-based South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP)223 in mid-2025 estimated the agency’s strength at around 25 000.224 The ISI has been involved in multiple enforced disappearances225 and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan.226
- 208
SATP, Pakistan: ISI And Unwavering Malignancy – Analysis, Eurasia Review, 29 July 2025, url
- 209
Britannica, Pakistan, Political Process, last updated 30 March 2026, url
- 210
Richards, J., Pakistan's ISI: A Concise History of the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, 2024, p. 78; Sirrs, O., Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate: Covert Action and internal operations, 2017, p. 2
- 211
VOA, Pakistan names new chief for powerful ISI spy agency, 23 September 2024, url
- 212
Richards, J., Pakistan's ISI: A Concise History of the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, 2024, p. 80
- 213
Bokhari, K. and Haider, E., Pakistan’s Intelligence Crisis, New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, 3 September 2024, url
- 214
Richards, J., Pakistan's ISI: A Concise History of the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, 2024, p. 1
- 215
Richards, J., Pakistan's ISI: A Concise History of the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, 2024, p. 29
- 216
SATP, Pakistan: ISI And Unwavering Malignancy – Analysis, Eurasia Review, 29 July 2025, url
- 217
Sunday Guardian (The), Sweeping Digital Surveillance Overhaul at ISI-GHQ, 25 January 2026, url
- 218
Richards, J., Pakistan's ISI: A Concise History of the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, 2024, pp. 27, 78
- 219
Express Tribune (The), Lt Gen Asim Malik to continue as DG ISI: security sources, 6 October 2025, url; Arab News, Pakistan appoints intelligence chief as National Security Adviser amid tensions with India, 1 May 2025, url
- 220
Richards, J., Pakistan's ISI: A Concise History of the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, 2024, p. 78
- 221
Richards, J., Pakistan's ISI: A Concise History of the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, 2024, p. 27
- 222
Zebari, D.F., Secret Service of the World: A Comparison of Three Intelligence Agencies - ISI, CIA and RAW, 2020, url, p. 1334
- 223
SATP, Contact US, n.d., url
- 224
SATP, Pakistan: ISI And Unwavering Malignancy – Analysis, Eurasia Review, 29 July 2025, url
- 225
HRCB, Human Rights Violations in Balochistan: 234 Enforced Disappearances, 87 Killings Documented in February 2026, 28 March 2026, url; PAANK, Balochistan Human Rights Report – 2025, 10 February 2026, url, p. 3
- 226
HRCB, Human Rights Violations in Balochistan: 234 Enforced Disappearances, 87 Killings Documented in February 2026, 28 March 2026, url