British spies plan to party like 007 when MI6 turns 100

HUNDREDS of British spies will step out of the shadows later this year when they hold a ball to celebrate MI6’s centenary.


The gala event will take place in October – at a secret location of course.

In theory the celebration is being kept hush-hush by the Secret Intelligence Service. But details are beginning to leak out from its fortress-like headquarters in London.

The event will be a strictly Black Tie affair and wives and girlfriends will be invited to ensure that MI6’s predominantly male staff have someone to dance with.

Whether there will be martinis, roulette tables and a car park full of Aston Martin DB5s remains to be seen.

However, with the British economy straining under the weight of the recession, the organisation is keen to make clear that its agents are paying for tickets to the event from their own pockets.

MI6 has taken various steps in recent years aimed at demystifying the profession and becoming more approachable.

In 2007, two secret agents gave the first “on the record interview” with the media, telling the BBC that they were not like James Bond and dismissing claims that their lives were like the TV drama series Spooks.

MI6’s head of recruitment said: “This is the biggest myth at the service. We do not have a licence to kill, we do not carry Berettas. That’s simply not true.”

A female operational officer also provided an insight into aspects of her work with foreign agents: “We absolutely never threaten or blackmail or coerce people to work with us. That is the most counter-productive tactic you can ever use,” she said.

Last year MI6 broke with tradition by recruiting the next generation of spies through the social networking site Facebook, having already issued a series of newspaper and radio adverts.

The three pop-up adverts appealed to university graduates, young professionals who were bored with their jobs and even those who sought a place in global history.

One read: “A career in world events? Help influence world events, protect the UK. Operational officer roles collecting and analysing global intelligence.”

MI6 was founded in October 1909 in a joint initiative by the Admiralty and the War Office to control secret intelligence operations amid deep concern about Germany’s military expansion.

Today the organisation says it fights “regional instability, terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and illegal narcotics”.

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