A couple of interesting quotes:
"There is always a question whether a democratic country is capable of having an intelligence service of any great merit
simply because of the built in inhibitions..."
"But you don't have to be a great or large or wealthy country to have a to have a good intelligence service as long as you have the norms, as long as you have the disciplines, as long as you have the motivation, the singleness of purpose, you can be a small service and have one great penetration (long pause) and you can move the world. "
https://youtu.be/vTgneJQxCts?si=V8QpaSGNtlBeIZJM