Secret Intelligence Service

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SIS Headquarters on the bank of the Thames almost across from Parliament
Photo: Steve Cadman

More commonly known as MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence service.

People

Chiefs of the SIS (C or CSS)

Notable senior officers

Vice-Chief of Secret Service (VCSS)

Deputy Chief of Secret Service (DCSS)

Assistant Chief of Secret Service (ACSS)

In more recent times the title of Assistant Chief has been used to refer to:

  • Nigel Inkster - 'Assistant Chief and Director of Operations and Intelligence (2004-2006)'.[15]

The following posts do not appear in published accounts of MI6 structure, most of which refer to the 1990s at the latest, but have been referred to or implied in official and media accounts of MI6 officers' biographies. The actual titles and structure may be uncertain.

Director of Operations

Director of Counter-terrorism

Structure

Philip H.J. Davies' 2004 book MI6 and the Machinery of Spying describes the top-level structure of MI6 following a 1995 re-organisation as set out below.

MI6 designations such as C/SS are used to refer to both the post in question and the officer who holds it at any given time.[23]

I/Ops (Information Operations)

Psychological warfare section of SIS.

In early 1998, when British and American forces were preparing to attack Iraq if Saddam did not fulfil pledges on UN inspection of presidential sites, MI6 received or invented intelligence that there were Iraqi plans to smuggle Anthrax into Britain in bottles of duty free perfume and spirits. A CX report to that effect was passed to the JIC. It was nonsense but fitted into a pattern of disinformation. [24]

According to former SIS agent Richard Tomlinson, paid agents in the 1990s included one and perhaps two national newspaper editors. [25]

In his controversial book being published in Russia, Tomlinson, according to book excerpts leaked to the Moscow press, said that in the early 1990s the editor of the Spectator was on MI6's books and provided cover for an agent named as Spencer who was put on the case of a young Russian diplomat, Platon Obukhov, in Tallin, the capital of Estonia.
Tomlinson writes that Mr Lawson's MI6 identity was "Smallbrow". Mr Lawson was the editor of the Spectator from 1990-95 before moving to its sister publication, the Sunday Telegraph.
Mr Lawson yesterday strongly denied both allegations. [26]

History

1920s

In 1924, senior officer Desmond Morton circulated the Zinoviev Letter, a forgery emanating from the service's station in Riga, which widely seen as having contributed to Labour's election defeat that year.[27]

Libya conflict 2011

In March 2011, the New York Times reported that CIA and MI6 officers were in Libya following the uprising against Colonel Gadaffi:

In addition, current and former British officials said, dozens of British special forces and MI6 intelligence officers are working inside Libya. The British operatives have been directing airstrikes from British Tornado jets and gathering intelligence about the whereabouts of Libyan government tank columns, artillery pieces, and missile installations, the officials said.[28]

Matthew D'Ancona has claimed that MI6 was involved in abortive plans to extract dictator Gadaffi from the country.[29]

External Resources

Books

  • Stephen Dorril, MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Fourth Estate Limited, 2000.
  • Philip H.J. Davies, MI6 and the Machinery of Spying, Frank Cass, 2004.
  • Keith Jeffery, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949, Bloomsbury, 2010.
  • Gordon Corera, MI6: Life and Death in the British Secret Service, Phoenix, 2012.

Contact

Notes

  1. MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, by Stephen Dorril, Touchstone, 2002
  2. Obituary - Sir Colin Figures, by Dan Van Der Vat, Guardian, 18 December 2006.
  3. MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, by Stephen Dorril, Touchstone, 2002
  4. New MI6 spymaster named, BBC News, 25 February 1999, accessed 26 February 2008.
  5. The British Secret Intelligence Service - (SIS)- who we are, accessed 27 May 2009.
  6. Richard Norton-Taylor, Sir John Sawers named as new chief of MI6, guardian.co.uk, 16 June 2009.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Keith Jeffery, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949, Bloomsbury, 2010, p.476.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Philip H.J. Davies, MI6 and the Machinery of Spying, Frank Cass, 2004, p.180.
  9. Keith Jeffery, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949, Bloomsbury, 2010, p.613.
  10. Stephen Dorril, MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Fourth Estate Limited, 2000, p.494 .
  11. 11.0 11.1 Stephen Dorril, MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Fourth Estate Limited, 2000, p.662.
  12. 12.0 12.1 Keith Jeffery, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949, Bloomsbury, 2010, p.343.
  13. 13.0 13.1 Philip H.J. Davies, MI6 and the Machinery of Spying, Frank Cass, 2004, p.278.
  14. Keith Jeffery, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949, Bloomsbury, 2010, p.627.
  15. 15.0 15.1 2012 PARTICIPANTS, cyberdialogue.ca, accessed 3 October 2014.
  16. Ex-MI6 boss denies killing Diana, BBC News, 20 February 2008.
  17. Richard Norton-Taylor, Another top MI6 officer quits, The Guardian, 6 December 2004.
  18. 18.0 18.1 Appointment of the new Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 3 October 2014.
  19. Richard Barrett CMG OBE, RUSI, accessed 3 October 2014.
  20. Richard Barrett, Soufan Group, accessed 3 October 2014.
  21. Steve Swann, MI6 accused of misleading MPs over Libya rendition, BBC News, 11 October 2012.
  22. Philip H.J. Davies, MI6 and the Machinery of Spying, Frank Cass, 2004, p.302.
  23. Philip H.J. Davies, MI6 and the Machinery of Spying, Frank Cass, 2004, p.353.
  24. MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Stephen Dorril, Touchstone, 2002, p.766
  25. MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Stephen Dorril, Touchstone, 2002, p.787
  26. Ian Traynor and Richard Norton-Taylor, 'Editor provided cover for spies', The Guardian, January 26 2001.
  27. Keith Jeffery, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949, Bloomsbury, 2010, pp.216-218.
  28. Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt, C.I.A. in Libya Aiding Rebels, U.S. Officials Say, New York Times, 30 March 2011.
  29. Holly Watt, Secret MI6 plot to help Col Gaddafi escape Libya revealed, The Telegraph, 27 September 2013.