The topic of this paper is the analysis of intelligence systems in the area of southeastern Europe. By analyzing the problem of defining the area of southeast Europe, an attempt is made to give an insight into the historical and cultural complexity of the area in which the countries of original interest for the work are developing today: the Republic of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania. In the introduction of the paper, the general concept of the intelligence system with its characteristics and modalities are described. Then, all the components of the intelligence system of an individual country are described in detail, first by giving the historical context that influenced the development of the intelligence system and services. Furthermore, describing the primary organization of the services that operate, emphasis is placed on the institutions that are the bearers of intelligence activities. Following that the picture of the intelligence structure is expanded to bodies for coordination and management. The element of (non)existence of police powers and the method of applying secret data collection measures stand out as the main criteria of democratization and transparency of the work of services rooted in the rule of law. The latter characteristics are combined in the element of control and supervision as a special element of the analysis of each intelligence system. At the end, the paper provides a comparative analysis of the key determinants of all intelligence systems with the intelligence system of Republic of Croatia.