SIS Records— War Office Military Intelligence (MI) Sections in the First World War". Sis.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 20 August 2006. Richard B. Spence, Trust No One: The Secret World Of Sidney Reilly; 2002, Feral House, ISBN 0-922915-79-2. Jeffery ends his work in 1949, with MI6 poised on the edge of the cold war. During the next few years the decision was taken to reveal its existence by putting it on a statutory basis. These dramatic changes make it inevitable that there should be a successor volume, possibly in a different format. It might be feasible to separate and enlarge the account of actual operations while dealing separately with the institutional changes and the consequences of going public. The public that wishes to know that "C" always wrote in green ink, and relishes the dramatic story of Gordievsky's defection is different from the more specialist public that has an appetite for detailed institutional discussion. Tomlinson was imprisoned under the Official Secrets Act 1989 in 1997 after he gave a synopsis of a proposed book detailing his career with MI6 to an Australian publisher. He served six months of a twelve-month sentence before being given parole, whereupon he left the country. The book, named The Big Breach, was published in Moscow in 2001 (and later in Edinburgh), and was subsequently serialised by The Sunday Times. The book detailed various aspects of MI6 operations, alleging that it employed a mole in the German Bundesbank and that it had a " licence to kill", the latter later confirmed by the head of MI6 at a public hearing. [5] Intelligence agent accused of trying to publish book about service". Agence France-Presse. 3 November 1997.

George Blake". History Learning. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012 . Retrieved 1 July 2012. Corera, Gordon, MI6: Life and Death in the British Secret Service, W&N , 2012, ISBN 0753828332, 978-0753828335, p.351 On one occasion in 1998, MI6 believed it might be able to obtain 'actionable intelligence' which could help the CIA capture Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda. But given that this might result in his being transferred or rendered to the United States, MI6 decided it had to ask for ministerial approval before passing the intelligence on (in case he faced the death penalty or mistreatment). This was approved by a minister 'provided the CIA gave assurances regarding humane treatment'. In the end, not enough intelligence came through to make it worthwhile going ahead. [57] On September 27, 2004, news emerged of a significant incident involving British intelligence officers in the Balkans. It was reported that several British spies operating in the region, including an SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) officer stationed in Belgrade and another spy in Sarajevo, were either relocated or compelled to withdraw from their posts. This development was a consequence of their public identification in various media reports, a situation that arose due to the actions of disgruntled local intelligence services, especially in Croatia and Serbia. In one instance, a third individual was labeled as a British spy in the Balkans and subsequently left the office of the High Representative in Bosnia. Additionally, two British intelligence officers stationed in Zagreb managed to maintain their positions despite having their covers exposed in the local press. This revelation of the agents' identities in the three capital cities significantly undermined British intelligence operations in the region. [79]Neilan, Terence (8 June 1999). "World Briefing". New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 15 February 2013.

Atkin, Malcolm (2015). Fighting Nazi Occupation: British Resistance 1939 – 1945. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. pp.Chapter 4. ISBN 978-1-47383-377-7. In March 2016, it was reported that MI6 had been involved in the Libyan Civil War since January of that year, having been escorted by the SAS to meet with Libyan officials to discuss the supplying of weapons and training for the Syrian Army and the militias fighting against ISIS. [75] In April 2016, it was revealed that MI6 teams with members of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment seconded to them had been deployed to Yemen to train Yemeni forces fighting AQAP, as well as identifying targets for drone strikes. [76] In November 2016, The Independent reported that MI6, MI5 and GCHQ supplied the SAS and other British special forces a list of 200 British jihadists to kill or capture before they attempt to return to the UK. The jihadists are senior members of ISIS who pose a direct threat to the UK. Sources said SAS soldiers have been told that the mission could be the most important in the regiment's 75-year history. [77] Other activities [ edit ] Operation Embarrass? You bet: Britain's secret war on the Jews". www.thejc.com. 21 September 2010 . Retrieved 8 February 2023.He also described one of the saddest episodes of his career: when he had to break the news to a widow who had asked why her husband’s pension was not being paid that the man had never been an MI5 asset – as he had apparently told her their whole lives together.

A Year with MI6 was a public art exhibition, showing a collection of paintings and drawings by artist James Hart Dyke to mark the centenary of the Secret Intelligence Service. [91] The project saw Dyke working closely with the SIS for a year, both in the United Kingdom and abroad. [92] The Service allowed Hart Dyke access to enable him to undertake the project, sending him on hostile environment courses to allow him to work in dangerous parts of the world, and admitting him into their Vauxhall Cross headquarters. The sensitivity of SIS work required Dyke to maintain secrecy, and his access was carefully controlled. [91] Davies, Philip H. J. (2004). MI6 and the Machinery of Spying London: Frank Cass, ISBN 0-7146-8363-9 (h/b). Camel Trophy Owners Club - Camel Trophy 1990 - Siberia USSR". Archived from the original on 25 December 2016 . Retrieved 3 December 2009. In 2007, government lawyers decided not to prosecute him for publishing The Big Breach. [57] The Crown Prosecution Service said there was no real prospect of conviction in a jury trial, which would reveal "sensitive matters". [57] In 2009, MI6 agreed to allow Tomlinson to return to Britain, unfreeze royalties from his book and drop the threat of charges if he agreed to stop disclosing information about MI6 and speaking to the media. [7] According to The Sunday Times, MI6 also apologised for its "unfair treatment" of him. [7]What do you think it is about Ian Fleming which so encapsulates the British Secret Service in the public’s view? Norton-Taylor, Richard (29 June 2006). "Police raid Riviera home of former MI6 officer". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021 . Retrieved 3 December 2012. https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20090607230403/http://www.scottbaker-inquests.gov.uk/hearing_transcripts/130208pm.htm [ bare URL] MI6 is known sometimes to use Government Communications Bureau as a cover name, for example, when sponsoring research. [89] Personnel awards [ edit ]

The report was authored by leading historians and experts who were granted unprecedented access to the archives of British intelligence. One of the most remarkable findings was that 48 percent of all reports received by British secret services from continental Europe during the years 1939–45 had originated from Polish sources. This significant contribution from the Polish intelligence was made possible by the fact that occupied Poland had a long-standing tradition of insurgency organizations, which had been passed down through generations. These organizations maintained networks in emigrant Polish communities in Germany and France. [31] a b Kochanski, Halik (2014). The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War. Harvard University Press. pp.234–235. ISBN 978-0674068148. MI6 assisted the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police, with "the exchange of information about communism" as late as October 1937, well into the Nazi era; the head of the British agency's Berlin station, Frank Foley, was still able to describe his relationship with the Gestapo's so-called communism expert as "cordial". [24] A young Englishman, member of the Secret Intelligence Service, in Yatung, Tibet, photographed by Ernst Schäfer in 1939 During 2008, Tomlinson was a witness for the inquest into the deaths of the Princess of Wales and Dodi al Fayed. [52] He had suggested that MI6 was monitoring Diana before her death and that her driver on the night she died, Henri Paul, had been an MI6 informant, and that her death resembled plans he saw during 1992 for the assassination of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević, using a bright light to cause a traffic accident. [52] It is not complete fiction. There was a man called Biffy Dunderdale whom Fleming knew and who was the MI6 Head of Station in Paris in the 1930s. He was a man of great sangfroid and style who liked fast cars and pretty women and was quite an important figure. He travelled under the name of John Green, and was a glamorous figure a bit like Bond. On the other hand, one of the reasons he was in the Service was because he spoke Russian like a native, as well as other languages, which was definitely something you needed – and still do – and something James Bond never seemed to be able to do.May Day parade in Moscow, 1970, the year in which Gordievsky was singled out by MI6. Photograph: Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images Johnston, Philip (16 November 2006). "MI6 licensed to thrill listeners to Radio 1". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022 . Retrieved 1 July 2012. It is tempting to see him as a sort of mirror image of Philby, but there is one crucial difference. Whereas Philby was ideologically committed to communism before he joined MI6, and infiltrated the spy agency so as to betray it, Gordievsky became enamoured of the west when he was already on the inside. Partly, he was appalled by the Berlin Wall, but mainly he was radicalised by the crushing of the democratic uprising in Czechoslovakia in 1968.