Secret Intelligence Service
More commonly known as MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence service.
People
Chiefs of the SIS (C or CSS)
- Mansfield Cumming - 1909-1923
- Rear Admiral Hugh Sinclair - 1923-1939
- Major-General Sir Stewart Menzies - 1939-1952
- Major-General Sir John Sinclair - 1952-1956
- Sir Dick White - 1956-1968
- Sir John Rennie - 1968-1973
- Sir Maurice Oldfield - 1973-1978
- Sir Arthur Temple Franks - 1978-1981[1]
- Sir Colin Figures - 1981-1984[2]
- Sir Christopher Curwen - 1985-1988
- Sir Colin McColl - 1988-1994
- Sir David Spedding - 1994-1999[3]
- Sir Richard Dearlove - 1999-2004[4]
- Sir John Scarlett - 2004-2009[5]
- Sir John Sawers - 2009-[6]
- Alex Younger - 2014
Notable senior officers
Vice-Chief of Secret Service (VCSS)
- Claude Dansey 1942[7]-1945[8]
- John Sinclair 1945-1952[9]
- James Easton 1952[10]-1958[11]
- George Kennedy Young 1958[11]
Deputy Chief of Secret Service (DCSS)
- Valentine Vivian 1939/40[12]-1943[7]
- John Bruce-Lockhart -1967[13]
- Maurice Oldfield 1967-[13]
Assistant Chief of Secret Service (ACSS)
- Claude Dansey c.1940[12]-1942[7]
- James Marshall Cornwall 1943[7]-1945[8]
- James Easton 1945[14]
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)'
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
- Richard Dearlove 1994-1999.[15]
- Nigel Inkster - 'Assistant Chief and Director of Operations and Intelligence (2004-2006)'[16]
- Alex Younger c.2012-2014.[17]
Director of Counter-terrorism
- Richard Barrett c.2001.[18] 'Director of Global Counter Counter Terrorism Operations'.[19]
- Mark Allen c.2004.[20]
- Alex Younger c.2009-2012.[17]
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.
- Chief of the Secret Service (C/SS)
- Head of Secretariat (H/SECT)
- Director of Requirements and Production (D/PR)
- Director, Security and Public Affairs (D/SPA)
- Director, Support Services (D/SS)
- (D/OS)
- Director of Personnel and Administration (D/PA)[21]
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.[22]
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. [23]
According to former SIS agent Richard Tomlinson, paid agents in the 1990s included one and perhaps two national newspaper editors. [24]
- 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. [25]
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.[26]
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.[27]
Matthew D'Ancona has claimed that MI6 was involved in abortive plans to extract dictator Gadaffi from the country.[28]
External Resources
- MI6 Guardian subject page
- Mark Hollingsworth, Spies like us, The Guardian, 5 November 2003.
- The Report of the Detainee Inquiry, December 2013.
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
- http://www.sis.gov.uk Official website
Notes
- ↑ MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, by Stephen Dorril, Touchstone, 2002
- ↑ Obituary - Sir Colin Figures, by Dan Van Der Vat, Guardian, 18 December 2006.
- ↑ MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, by Stephen Dorril, Touchstone, 2002
- ↑ New MI6 spymaster named, BBC News, 25 February 1999, accessed 26 February 2008.
- ↑ The British Secret Intelligence Service - (SIS)- who we are, accessed 27 May 2009.
- ↑ Richard Norton-Taylor, Sir John Sawers named as new chief of MI6, guardian.co.uk, 16 June 2009.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Keith Jeffery, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949, Bloomsbury, 2010, p.476.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Philip H.J. Davies, MI6 and the Machinery of Spying, Frank Cass, 2004, p.180.
- ↑ Keith Jeffery, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949, Bloomsbury, 2010, p.613.
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Fourth Estate Limited, 2000, p.494 .
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Stephen Dorril, MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Fourth Estate Limited, 2000, p.662.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Keith Jeffery, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949, Bloomsbury, 2010, p.343.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Philip H.J. Davies, MI6 and the Machinery of Spying, Frank Cass, 2004, p.278.
- ↑ Keith Jeffery, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949, Bloomsbury, 2010, p.627.
- ↑ Ex-MI6 boss denies killing Diana, BBC News, 20 February 2008.
- An un-named Director of Operations resigned in 2004.
- ↑ 2012 PARTICIPANTS, cyberdialogue.ca, accessed 3 october 2014.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Appointment of the new Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 3 October 2014.
- ↑ Richard Barrett CMG OBE, RUSI, accessed 3 October 2014.
- ↑ Richard Barrett, Soufan Group, accessed 3 October 2014.
- ↑ Steve Swann, MI6 accused of misleading MPs over Libya rendition, BBC News, 11 October 2012.
- ↑ Philip H.J. Davies, MI6 and the Machinery of Spying, Frank Cass, 2004, p.302.
- ↑ Philip H.J. Davies, MI6 and the Machinery of Spying, Frank Cass, 2004, p.353.
- ↑ MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Stephen Dorril, Touchstone, 2002, p.766
- ↑ MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Stephen Dorril, Touchstone, 2002, p.787
- ↑ Ian Traynor and Richard Norton-Taylor, 'Editor provided cover for spies', The Guardian, January 26 2001.
- ↑ Keith Jeffery, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949, Bloomsbury, 2010, pp.216-218.
- ↑ Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt, C.I.A. in Libya Aiding Rebels, U.S. Officials Say, New York Times, 30 March 2011.
- ↑ Holly Watt, Secret MI6 plot to help Col Gaddafi escape Libya revealed, The Telegraph, 27 September 2013.
